Time Bomb
by lovinMaya
Summary: Scorpius Malfoy and Rose Weasley cannot help their attraction to each other, but they know that when they get their polar opposite families involved, it's just a time bomb waiting to explode!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **This is something that's going to be short and sweet. I've been wanting to read a story about how Rose and Scorpius bring their relationship to their families, and the events that follow when the families try to interact. Sadly, I just couldn't find one, so I decided to write one instead. This chapter is something of a prologue, and I won't spend much time on Rose and Scorpius coming together - the bulk of this story will be the humorous clashing of the Weasley and Malfoy family.

If any of you know a story that's something like what I said, please give me in the info for it in your review so that I can check it out!

Enjoy!

~Maya

* * *

**Time Bomb**

Chapter 1

Family was something of which Rose Weasley had never been unfortunate enough to know the absence. Never once had she experienced the feeling of being alone; she'd spent every minute since her birth in the company of a close family member or friend. For Rose, the constant presence of loved ones was not something to notice. Put simply, it was routine, and she'd grown quite accustomed to the comfort. Once in a while, she'd appreciate her huge family when she truly needed them (every teenager did have her fair share of angst, after all), but her need was never anything intense. Overall, her life as a teenager had been very easily happy, normal, and uneventful. But that all changed the day she bumped into Scorpius Malfoy—and dropped every single book she was carrying.

"Oh, Merlin, I'm sorry!" Rose cried, dropping instantly to her knees to grab the books as quickly as she could. "I really don't know why I don't keep them in my bag. Everyone says I should, but for some reason I just carry them with me everywhere. I'm always going to classes—I've got the busiest schedule, you should really see it, bloody hell, Double Charms, Double Potions, Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures, Transfigur—oh, but that's not important! I'm so sorry I bumped into you like that!"

As she'd spluttered her apologies in the most flustered manner a boy like Scorpius Malfoy had ever seen, she'd been unaware that he had gathered all her books and was now standing with the heavy stack in his extended arms.

"Here you go," he said unperturbedly. To Rose, he appeared to be the coolest thing there was; it wasn't often that someone ran head-on into a Rose-rant and kept his calm. In truth, however, Scorpius hadn't the slightest idea how to react to such brazen behavior, and his only solution was to act as he would act to any other dull incident.

With a sheepish laugh, Rose turned a color that was only just lighter than her hair. "I'm sorry," she said again, looking him in the eyes this time. For a moment, she forgot just what she was saying. His eyes were so gray, so piercing. "I really should put them in my bag."

"Well, would you like to hold your bag open so I can dump them in?" Scorpius suggested.

"Er…that-that's all right," she said, smiling. "I'm kind of late for class, so I'll just take them and get on my way. I'll put them, er, in my bag later." Again, she smiled awkwardly but warmly at him before taking the mountain of books from his arms with a 'hmphf' and continuing quickly on past him.

Almost unconsciously, Scorpius turned and watched her go, her full, red curls bouncing. The whole concept that he had just had a conversation with _Rose Weasley_ and he had been casual was a thought that apparently existed somewhere outside his brain, for if it was something he had been consciously processing, he'd surely turn into some sort of crazy jelly animal.

Scorpius Malfoy never spoke to the Potters or the Weasleys. His name had given him a reputation that, even after six years at Hogwarts, he simply could not seem to shake.

During Scorpius's first year, he'd realized exactly what his father's warning words had meant— _"Just be careful, Scorpius, right? Don't let them get to you, because they _will_ try."_ And try they did.

In an almost revolutionary manner, his classmates had taken it upon themselves to make this Malfoy boy's life miserable in the name of anti-Dark Arts. Though he had, every so often, seen someone mistreat his father, Scorpius had never been on the receiving end of that sort of prejudicial torment, and it hurt. It hurt far more than the bruises he'd sustained or the minor scars he'd acquired from the number of hexes people had thrown at him. It hurt because he was not what they said he was.

Eventually, Scorpius learned to accept the hand he'd been dealt and make the most of it; he studied hard, kept out of the way of the particularly rowdy bullies, and learned how not to defend himself. He also learned to take various precautions based on predictions he made. He went for meals during the busiest hour or not at all; people generally didn't notice him when students teemed the halls. Studying was for his bed or the darkest corner of the library because any other place always contained a small group of bored students—his worst nightmare. Owls to his parents needed to be saved for before sunrise or after curfew so that nobody would harass him for keeping his "Death Eater family" updated about his "latest Dark Arts achievements." And above all, Scorpius made sure to avoid the war hero families.

This precaution was not based on any particular experience, only on his father's grim warning. Nobody could wholly believe and hate his Death Eater reputation more than a group of Gryffindors who were children of the most famous war heroes. So he went wildly out of his way to avoid them. Until now.

Granted, it had been _her_ fault, not his, that they had interacted, but he seriously doubted that the famous family would see it that way. Cringing, Scorpius thought about how much his struggles would now increase because of that fateful incident, and cursed himself for walking directly in the redhead's path.

He glanced at his watch; he was going to be late for class, and the jeers and stupid Death Eater comments would never stop if he showed up for class late. Trying to shake the memory of Rose Weasley's disconcerted babbling, Scorpius rushed off.

* * *

**A/N:** I hope you liked it! Please leave me your feedback! It'll give me a reason to continue. If you have any ideas for what you'd like to see when the Malfoys and Weasleys collide, please let me know. I'd love to see how I can incorporate what you want into what I write!

~Maya


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Here's the second chapter! Updates will be coming pretty quickly, so I hope you all stick with it. Thanks so much for your feedback on the first chapter, I really appreciate it.

* * *

**Time Bomb**

Chapter 2

Two days had passed since the awkward incident in the hallway, and Scorpius's life did not drastically worsen in the way he had expected and dreaded. It turned into something much, much more unbearable and dangerous, for he now found that he simply could not take his eyes off the redheaded Gryffindor. She and her stupid stack of books had most certainly ruined his life.

The general animosity Hogwarts students felt towards Scorpius had obviously hindered his ability to interact with, let alone date, any girls, so he hadn't ever quite experienced the teenage concept of a "crush." It was alien to him, the way happiness was alien to the male anglerfish, the way boredom was alien to the busy honeybee.

Yet here he was, with an inexplicable, horribly impossible to ignore attraction to the one girl he knew he should never, ever know.

* * *

Here was another moment Rose felt immensely grateful for her family's unceasing presence that always managed to provide a more than sufficient distraction from whatever ailed the cousin. And what she needed more than anything at the moment was a distraction.

Because Rose Weasley could not stop thinking about Scorpius Malfoy.

It wasn't as though that moment in the corridor had been the first time she came to know of his existence; she'd seen him throughout her six years in school as a constant victim of bullying. Popular belief was that her family and he had an innate hatred of each other, but in truth they simply had never interacted and therefore could not care less. Scorpius had never been a topic of conversation among her family members, save the few mentions of his father that would occur as casual memories passed around the dining table during reunions.

"_Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pureblood,"_ her father had said. It had been a joke, she knew, but the thought that perhaps there had been some inner truth to it now plagued her.

No matter her efforts, Rose could not deny that there was a force inside her that told her urgently to suppress whatever these feelings of attraction were, that they were neither right nor safe. This persistent force constantly battled with the sixteen-year-old spirit inside her who wanted to think about nothing more than Scorpius's handsomely sharp features, his soft gray eyes, or the voice she had heard so little of and longed to hear more.

There was a prominent Weasley trait in her: Once Rose came across something that irked her mind to no end, she would ceaselessly pursue it until it was completely resolved.

For two whole days, she'd managed to keep quiet about her newfound interest, until she found herself alone in the Gryffindor Common Room with her favorite cousin.

Albus Severus Potter was scratching his head in frustration at a question on his Potions assignment.

"Al," Rose whined, "why can't you just finish that so that we can go do something fun?"

"Not all of us have brains like yours Rose," Al muttered vaguely, clearly too focused his work. "We can't just do our homework in five seconds and then do whatever we want for the rest of the term."

Rose sighed heavily. "I wanna talk to you, Al," she implored, nudging him with her elbow.

Annoyed, he glanced up at her. "Talk, then. As long as you don't expect me to do any responding." With an impatient roll of his eyes, Al waved her on and turned back to his blank piece of parchment.

Now was the moment. Even though he wasn't paying her the slightest attention, Rose knew perfectly well that her words would get him to forget his assignment entirely before she'd even finished her sentence.

"Do you think that Scorpius Malfoy is unfairly bullied?" Her voice was carefully nonchalant for her cousin to believe that she was positing this idea merely from a faint interest. She kept the triumph she felt off her face when Albus dropped his quill instantly to look up at her, dumbfounded.

"Why do you ask?" he said. It was clear that this was the first time the question had ever occurred to him. Rose smirked slightly.

"Just wondering," she said innocently. Her heart was thumping hard, willing the blood away from her face as she prayed she wouldn't blush.

"I've never thought about it," Albus said honestly. "The way Dad and Uncle Ron talk about him and his dad…"

Rose nodded knowingly. "It makes you kinda…not take it seriously, right?" The thought made her sad. For years they had lived with a caricature of Scorpius as some sort of comedic punch line, when in reality, the poor boy had been living an actual hell.

The bespectacled boy before her offered a murmur of agreement before returning to his Potions assignment. Rose groaned in the back of her throat. There went his attention. As she moved to get up from the table, Albus suddenly looked up.

"Why?"

She glanced at him with what she hoped was a casual expression. "Why what?"

"Why are you suddenly wondering about Scorpius Malfoy being bullied?" Rose cursed herself for coming to Albus with her question; he had always been the cousin to know her best.

"No reason," she lied, sweeping her books off the table as she stood up. "I'm just gonna…"

"Oh, no, no, no!" Albus cried, grabbing her sleeve and yanking her back into her seat. "You're _just gonna_ tell me what's actually on your mind." As if an important matter had just been settled in his favor, he nodded once firmly and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Nothing!" she protested. The skeptical look in his eye told her instantly that he didn't believe her. Tutting with affected irritation that she hoped would fool him, Rose continued, "I-I just saw some kids pushing him around, that's all!"

"Who were they?" said Albus, clearly feigning interest as he patiently waited for Rose to spill the truth.

"I don't know—does it matter? It bugged me, that's all," she said.

She watched him anxiously, and for a moment, he seemed to believe her. It was all she could do to keep from bouncing in her chair with glee.

"So you've been watching him?"

Albus's words shook her roughly out of her relief and her eyes widened as the blush rose to her face. Silently screaming at herself, she said, "N-no."

To her intense frustration, her cousin smirked. "Liar."

"What?" she scoffed. "Why would I be lying?"

"You tell me." He crossed his arms again and leaned his chair back onto the two rear legs. Rose's fingers itched toward her wand; one flick and he'd go sprawling.

Instead, she (regretfully) set her jaw and said, "I'm not lying. Why would I care about Scorpius Malfoy?"

Albus rolled his eyes. "You just told me you did, Rose," he said exasperatedly.

"I did not!"

"Rose."

"I didn't." She pursed her lips stubbornly and crossed her arms over her chest, mimicking him.

Sighing, Albus allowed his chair to fall back down onto all four legs and looked his cousin resolutely in the eyes. It was only the Gryffindor pride in her that refused to give in to the need to glance away from his intimidating, stare-into-your-soul gaze.

He raised his eyebrows in a you-really-should-tell-me-because-you-know-I'll-know-the-truth kind of way, and said, "Do you care about Scorpius Malfoy?"

And Rose gave in. "I don't know!" she cried. "How am I supposed to know? I don't even know the guy!"

She cursed loudly at Albus as he laughed. "Don't be an idiot, Rose," he said, shoving her shoulder lightly.

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"It means, go and bloody talk to the guy," he answered, rolling his eyes. He would never understand how girls with crushes could get so rattled up.

"Al, come on," she said nervously. "You can't just-just tell me to go talk to him. He's not just any guy."

"Yeah, yeah," he teased her. "He's _special_."

With a _tsk_ sound, Rose smacked her cousin across the chest. "You know that's not what I mean."

Albus sighed more loudly than ever. "Who cares if he's a Malfoy, Rose?"

"Don't ask stupid questions."

"You're right." Albus fell silent for a moment. "Okay, so our family will care. Don't you think they'll care about your…er…happiness more?"

"Do you KNOW my father?"

"Yes, I do," he said seriously. "And I'm, like, two hundred percent sure that he'd care about your happiness more than a surname."

"Okay, yeah," Rose agreed, still upset. "But…Al, our whole family is older brothers. They'd kill him! Not to mention the uncles. They're way over-protective, and what if it doesn't work out? What if they drive us apart before we can even figure out if we're going to work at all?"

Albus shrugged. "So keep it a secret."

The idea shut Rose up for a good seven minutes in which a very relieved Albus returned to his Potions. She sat silently, pondering away while the scratch of her cousin's quill against parchment settled comfortably in the background. Could she start a real friendship, and maybe (hopefully) something more, with Scorpius Malfoy, and keep it a secret from her entire family? Though the idea was far-fetched, it didn't seem totally impossible. She did have Albus, after all, to help her.

She cleared her throat, and Albus looked up.

"Oh, no," he said warily. "I know that face. That's your resolve face. That's your 'I've-got-a-plan-and-now-I'm-gonna-get-Al-involved' face. Well, the answer's no, dammit! Your plans and schemes are way too ridiculously difficult to carry out, and I want no part in them!"

"I'm going to ask Scorpius to Hogsmeade. Cover for me?" she asked him sweetly.

Albus gave her a hopeless look before dropping his head onto the table and groaning, "Fine."

* * *

**A/N:** I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Just a side-note, this is not going to be a story about saving Scorpius from the prejudicial hatred he gets from the Hogwarts students, and I tried to edit this chapter as much as possible to make sure that was clear. This is just going to be a relaxed romantic comedy.

So here's a question for the readers: How would you like Rose and Scorpius to get together? Let me know in your reviews!

~Maya


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** I'm sorry this took so long, but I have final exams next week, so I can't work on it for hours every day. You might have to wait a week for the next chapter as well, but the ones after that will come up quickly.

I hope you enjoy this!

~Maya

* * *

**Time Bomb**

Chapter 3

As a first year, Scorpius had found the Slytherin common room a less-than-fun place to spend his time, so during much of the year he had explored empty corridors. Those became his best friends.

In his explorations, he had miraculously discovered the Hogwarts kitchens, which was where he now spent nearly all of his time in order to avoid Rose Weasley like the plague.

That girl was so damn beautiful that Scorpius felt completely within his rights to say that she should not be allowed to _exist_. A hazard, he would call it, and he did as he related his troubles to the house-elves in the kitchens.

"Master Scorpius," said Roxie, a particular favorite of his, "I has to say that you must be telling her."

"Oh, no, Roxie," he said, shaking his head frantically. "I can't tell Rose Weasley that. I can't tell Rose Weasley anything. I've got to stay away from her."

"But Master," Roxie implored him. "You isn't knowing you's own goodnesses. You is a good boy, Master Scorpius. I is sure Miss Rose will know, too. You only need give Miss a chance."

"Sorry, Roxie," he said, and he meant it, "but there's no way. I'm already hated enough. If I try to get in with them, then I'll be hated even more."

"But Miss Rose is nice girl!" the elf insisted, her ears flapping. "I knows she never will be hurting to Master."

"Yeah, she'll be nice, I don't doubt that," said Scorpius. "But that doesn't matter. She'll let me down, and even if she does it easy, it'll become news. And I _don't_ need news."

Roxie seemed to realize she had lost the argument, so she nodded reluctantly and left to help a small group of elves with the Christmas decorations.

Seeing the sparkling tinsel and fluttering holly leaves gave Scorpius's spirits a tiny, but just good enough, lift. Christmas was his favorite time of year, because everyone was so distracted by their festive cheer that no one paid him any attention. Being able to appreciate the snow, the decorations, the food, and the atmosphere in peaceful aloneness was the best gift Scorpius could hope for, though his parents nevertheless showered him with beautifully wrapped presents every December. Of course, this was merely the icing on the cake; the best part about Christmastime was that he could go home.

With that wonderful thought in his mind, Scorpius bid Roxie and the other elves a hearty good-bye and left the kitchens, allowing the bowl of fruit to swing shut behind him. Then, his heart stopped.

He found himself face to face with the red-haired, brown-eyed, freckly, beautifulgorgeouswonderful Rose Weasley. _Run!_ his mind screamed. _Run before you do something stupid!_

"Er, hi," she said, looking just as surprised as he felt.

"Hello," Scorpius replied. His head was spinning and his heart was beating wildly out of time, but some inner instinct must have felt enough pity for him to keep calm.

"I didn't expect to see you here," she said, after a moment's silence.

"Oh. I see." There went the sympathetic instinct.

"So you know where the kitchens are?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Impressive," she said, and his heart leapt. 'Impressive?' She thought him impressive?

"Yeah, well," he replied, shrugging, "I guess I just…explored a lot. You know, when I was like, a kid."

"You found it on your own?" If she'd been surprised before, she now looked flabbergasted beyond anything else.

"Erm…yes."

"That's awesome!" she cried, giving him a real smile. "All the Hogwarts knowledge is sort of handed down to us by the older family members. It's cool, but it's kind of lame at the same time. You know?"

"Yeah, I guess I can see what you mean." He had no idea what she meant, but if she was going to start a conversation, he'd be damned if he was going to end it by being awkward.

"What other secret places do you know?" Rose asked eagerly, stepping closer. He begged himself not to take a step back.

"Well…I know about the Room of Requirement," he ventured, looking desperately for a reaction from her.

To his immense relief, she grinned. "So do I. What about, like, passages?"

"I, er, I know some secret passages to Hogsmeade. But you probably know those, too," he said hastily.

For a second a terrible fear gripped him as Rose's face contorted in frustration. Then, she whined, "No! I don't know any! They never tell me."

"Who?" he asked. The conversation was going so well, it was a wonder he could still breathe.

"Oh, you know, the whole family." She waved her hand dismissively. "James and Al and Hugo and the other cousins all sneak into Hogsmeade on random nights and bring back all this cool stuff. But they never tell me how they do it, or take me with them.

A sudden, daring idea poked its way into Scorpius's mind, and then refused, point-blank, to leave. Hesitantly, breathlessly, he offered, "I can take you."

The look that spread across her face was worth any amount of harassment from any number of students, and for the first time during the entire conversation, he smiled at her.

"You will? Really?" she squeaked, looking as though she could kiss him. He wished she would.

"Yeah," he said, nodding confidently.

Without warning, she threw her arms around his neck and squeezed, but she'd released him before Scorpius could even blink twice. Awkwardly, he smiled at her again, and with another thrill of daring said, "Would you like to go now?"

* * *

The cellar of Honeydukes was dark, and Rose could not stop giggling. Every once in a while, she swore she saw Scorpius cast an odd look her way, but her excitement hugely outweighed her desire to behave composedly for her crush.

"I can't believe we're doing this," she whispered for the millionth time.

Scorpius laughed breathlessly. "Yeah, me neither."

"Do you think it's open?" she asked him.

"I don't see why not," he responded. "I mean, it wasn't even dinnertime when we left. It should be—"

He was cut off by a loud clattering and a stream of extremely unexpected curse words. Then, silence.

"Rose?" he called tentatively. Oh, Merlin, if she was hurt…

"Ouch," she breathed.

"Oh, hell, are you okay?" Scorpius kicked himself, praying that no serious harm was done.

"I'm fine," she lied. She'd run into, knocked down, and tripped over a stack of wooden boxes, and to top it off, fallen bottom-first into it.

"You don't sound fine," he said warily. "Where are you?"

"I'm right here," she answered, peering through the darkness to try and spot his figure. Then suddenly, Rose felt a presence very close to her face.

"Are you here?" he said in her ear.

"Yeah, I am."

"Oh, sorry!" He scooted away. "I didn't realize I was so close."

"It-It's okay," she stuttered. Truthfully, she wished he hadn't moved; his breath on her ear had been madly intoxicating.

"So…shall we move on?" Scorpius suggested, unsure of what to do next.

"Er…"

"What? What's wrong?" Merlin, he was panicking. It could be a crisis situation, and he was panicking. Good, Scorpius.

"Nothing, nothing," she reassured him. "It's just…I can't really get up."

"Oh," he said simply. He didn't know what to do. A beautiful and interesting girl, the only beautiful or interesting girl who had ever spoken to him before, needed his help, and Scorpius didn't know what to do. "Er…what do I do?"

To his surprise, she laughed despite the pain she was in from falling. "Well, could you start by helping me get to my feet?"

"Sure." Then he cringed. How in the name of Merlin's beard was he going to do this? With a deep, steadying breath, Scorpius pulled himself together and moved closer to the girl on the floor. They were so silent that he could hear her slightly ragged breath as if it were an exploding missile. Tentatively, he snaked his arm around her small waist and gripped her firmly. Scorpius was too focused on calming himself down that he didn't notice Rose's breath catch.

"You're gonna need to put your arm around my shoulder," he said nervously.

"Okay," she whispered. His heart jumped into his throat when he felt her soft fingers slide across his shoulders and grip his other arm.

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah."

Grunting lightly, Scorpius summoned all his strength (if he failed to support her weight, he'd have to crawl into a hold and _die_) and pulled the girl to her feet.

Rose groaned quietly in pain and said, "Do you know any Healing charms?"

"No." Scorpius shook his head. "I'm sorry. I know I should, but Charms is my weak subject, and I don't trust myself to try to heal your ankle without even knowing what's wrong with it. I'll definitely do something wrong."

"Don't worry about it," said Rose, squeezing his arm and sending butterflies all through his abdomen. "Let's just go back up and go to the Hospital Wing."

"All right," said Scorpius miserably. "Look, I'm really sorry."

"For what?" She turned to look at him inquisitively.

"I'm sorry that…this completely failed. I wanted, I dunno, I wanted you to have fun."

He sounded as though he could cry, and Rose's heart went out to him. "I know the bruise on my ankle says otherwise, but I did have fun with you," she admitted.

"You don't have to just be nice, Rose," said Scorpius, shaking his head in shame. "You can be honest."

"Scorpius, just because everyone else gives you hell every time you sneeze doesn't mean that I'm going to do it because I fell down," Rose laughed. "You didn't do anything."

"I-I asked you to go down to Hogsmeade with me," he said regretfully. "I should've made sure you were okay."

"Shut up," Rose said firmly. "You didn't do anything wrong. I _wanted _you to ask me to go."

"You did?"

"Yeah," she replied, blessing the darkness with all her heart, for she was blushing like a porcelain doll. "I-I was gonna ask you to the next Hogsmeade weekend, but this sounded like so much more fun."

"I wish it had been," Scorpius said sadly.

"It really was," she reassured him.

There was a moment of comfortable silence.

"Can I ask you a question?" said Scorpius.

"You just did," she teased.

He cracked a smile, the first real smile he'd had in years. "Why did you want to ask me to Hogsmeade? You-you hardly know me."

Rose shrugged. "I wanted to know you. It seemed like the best way."

"Why'd you want to know me?"

They were coming closer to the One-Eyed Witch, and they both experienced a feeling of dread at the idea of leaving the darkness. It had provided a wonderful, comforting hiding place for the two teenagers to express their feelings truthfully, and now they wanted to spill everything before they had to go back to the real world.

"I think you're interesting," said Rose hurriedly. "I think you're smart and brave and-and handsome."

"You do?" Wonder filled Scorpius's mind. Rose Weasley, this beautiful, witty, popular, unapproachable girl thought he was smart and brave and handsome.

"Yeah," she murmured, nodding. "I do. And I wanted to know if I was right."

"I-I wanted to know you, too," he admitted. "You spoke to me normally that day…No one ever speaks to me normally."

Rose felt a pang of sorrow in her heart; nobody deserved to be treated the way Hogwarts had treated Scorpius. A surge of Gryffindor zest exploded in her as she decided with absolute firmness that no one ever would again.

"I wanna try this, Scorpius," she whispered. They had now come to a complete stop behind the One-Eyed Witch entrance.

"Try-try what?"

"I wanna try…you and-and me."

This was beyond new. Everything in his mind screamed that this was a terrible idea, that it would fail within moments, that he would never get over it. But his heart spoke softly that this girl was special, and that he wanted her. Scorpius wanted to be with her. She'd called him 'brave.' Who was he to prove her wrong?

"Okay." And with that, he put his other arm around her waist, pulled her close to his body, and kissed her.

* * *

**A/N:** Yay! I hope you liked that. So now the whole "Scorpius and Rose figure out how their feelings and how their relationship will work" part is done, and I'm going to move on to the family part of it. I can't wait to write the rest!

Leave me your thoughts and opinions!

~Maya


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Oh my gosh, I am so so so so so sorry this took so long to update. I was supremely blocked for the longest time and it took me a long time to write, edit, and finally be satisfied with this chapter. My thoughts are flowing more easily now, so I promise you won't have to wait so long again!

Enjoy!

* * *

**Time Bomb**

Chapter 4

Nearly two months had passed since Rose and Scorpius had, despite better judgment, spontaneously plunged into a relationship. It had taken Scorpius the first full month to realize that it was not, in fact, a dream, and he still could not completely believe that it was really happening. His first girlfriend, the first girl who had ever taken an interest in him, was a Weasley. Who could've guessed?

They made sure that Hogwarts wouldn't. This was a problem; with less than 300 students, gossip was a common pastime. But for two whole months, the couple had managed the feat of keeping the relationship a secret. Albus had, though very grudgingly agreed to help make their excuses whenever Rose had to go see her new boyfriend. Of course, he'd had his concerns at first, but upon meeting Scorpius, judged him to be one of the most sincere, humble, and respectful people he knew: Those were certainly not Gryffindor qualities. He gave them his blessing without too much thought, for he was not overly protective like the other family boys.

For two months, Rose and Scorpius spent hours hidden away together in secret rooms or passageways, tangled comfortably in each other's arms, talking quietly about anything and everything they had to say. Scorpius began to find a new person inside himself, one who had a unique and special personality, one that Rose found herself steadily falling for. Somehow, she gave him the courage to speak and value his own words. She showed him the world through her eyes and helped to open his.

Rose was terrified by how quickly Scorpius had entranced her. She wanted to spend every moment with him, and when she couldn't she thought only of him. The way his eyes lit up every time he laughed at her jokes and the way he squeezed her hand when they were alone made the butterflies in her stomach do Olympic laps. One December afternoon, while the couple sat in an empty classroom conjuring flowers and playfully competing to make the prettier ones, Rose looked into his soft, gray eyes and knew. It was time.

"Scorpius?" she said tentatively, twirling her wand.

"Yeah?" He was slightly absentminded; his focus was fixed on the purple tulip coming out the end of his wand.

"Do you think it's time we told our families?"

That was enough to pull his complete attention towards her. Startled, Scorpius looked up at his girlfriend's innocent expression and said, "Wh-what?" A wilted, greenish-purple tulip fell limply out from his wand.

"You know…like, told them about us. _Us_," she said, her eyes darting around the room nervously.

This was something Scorpius hadn't thought about in the slightest. Of course, he knew they couldn't keep it a secret forever, but even in his wildest dreams he wouldn't have thought about involving their families just yet. The chaos that would erupt at the news was, put mildly, petrifying.

"All right," he said slowly, lowering his wand and settling into one of the wooden chairs in the room. "Say we do tell them. How…how would it happen?"

"Well," Rose replied, sitting across from him. "Albus already knows."

"Right." Scorpius nodded. If there was one thing that would calm down the fear coursing through his veins, it would be the encouragement from Rose's cousin. A new confidence she had brought out in him told him that he and Albus were on their way to becoming real friends.

"The next step, I guess, would be to tell James?" she offered hopefully.

At this, Scorpius's heart skipped a beat. James Sirius Potter was the archetype of a Gryffindor student: He was brawny, proud, extremely brash, and full of good intentions, which made him the classic older brother. The classic older brother who would beat Scorpius to a shriveled, blonde pulp when he found out he was dating his cousin.

Clearly, Rose was thinking along the same lines, for she quickly said, "Or not. Or we could tell Hugo."

With a deep breath, Scorpius shook his head and replied, "No. No, I think we should tell Pot-James before anyone else. I think if we told him and he approved, it'll be easier getting everyone else."

Smiling, Rose said, "Scorpius Malfoy, you are a smart one. I certainly know how to pick a guy."

"Yeah, yeah," Scorpius muttered, blushing, and returning to making his flowers. A bouquet of roses, this time.

* * *

"YOU'RE WHAT?"

Rose cringed. After much deliberation, it had been decided that she would tell James on her own, simply to gauge an impression of how the other (and more important) members of her family, her father in particular, would react. So far, it was going quite badly.

"Tell me again," James demanded, pacing around his dormitory. Rose imagined steam coming out of his ears like it would in a cartoon.

"I'm dating Scorpius Malfoy," she said firmly. James was one of her closest cousins, nearly a brother; his opinion meant the world to her, but she wasn't afraid of him.

"And this has been going on how long?" he said, gripping his messy black hair between his fingers.

"Two months," she mumbled.

"HOW LONG?"

"Two months," she said, avoiding his eye.

With a sigh, James sank down onto his bed and dropped his head in his hands. For several minutes, he said nothing; the only sound in the room was Rose awkwardly shuffling her feet.

Finally, James looked up at her, extremely frustrated. "Rose, come on!"

"What?" she said stubbornly.

"He's a Malfoy! You know what happens at family gatherings! There hasn't been one yet where Dad and Uncle Ron haven't made fun of Draco Malfoy. You can't date his kid!"

"That's no reason to judge him!" she protested, crossing her arms over her chest. "First of all, we don't even know his dad, so we've got nothing to compare him to. Second, even if we did, you can't just assume he's exactly like his dad!"

"Yeah, but his dad was a Death Eater, wasn't he?" said James impatiently. "The guy comes from a Death Eater family. You can't see him."

"James, you're being a right git." Rose was fighting back tears and her face was growing hot from anger. She knew his reasons were merely an excuse to make his overprotectiveness sound rational, but it hurt nonetheless. If her last two months with Scorpius had shown her anything, it was that he was nothing like the boy everyone said he was.

Sighing, James said, "Whatever, Rose. Clearly, you're the more stubborn one. Go ahead and date the Malfoy kid. But don't expect me to just trust him right off the bat, yeah?"

With a scoff, she replied, "Yeah. Fine."

James rolled his eyes. "Don't be such a drama queen. Anyway, I know you'll probably get all upset about this, but you can't just ignore that he _is_ a Malfoy, Rose."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that our family and his have problems, and that's just a fact. Just because you decided to give him a clean slate doesn't mean he actually has one," said James seriously.

Rose groaned loudly. She knew her cousin had a point, but it was going to take a hell of a lot more than his words for her to admit it. "That's not true, and it's unfair, James."

"Yeah, it's unfair," he agreed, "but it is true. You better get it together and tell the family before it becomes too crazy."

"Yeah, you're right about that. I'll write a letter to Dad tonight," she said, waving her hand dismissively as she moved to leave the room.

"What? No!" he cried, raising his hands to stop her.

"What-why not?" Rose asked, confused.

"Because-what-how can you tell them this thing that you _know_ they're gonna react really strongly to in a _letter_?!" James looked outraged.

Rose was incredibly annoyed that her boisterous, prankster cousin was now teaching her tact, so she made a 'tsk' sound and rolled her eyes. "Fine. What do you suggest I do, then?"

At this, James became suddenly flustered, as though he hadn't expected to have to come up with an alternative. "Well…" he said, running his hands through his messy hair, "I suppose…we go home for Christmas in a week, right?"

Slowly, Rose nodded. "Right…"

"So, I guess, just tell them then?" he suggested hopefully.

Shocked, Rose stuttered, "Wh-you mean-like-t-tell them in PERSON?"

"Yeah, Rose. How else?"

"Bloody hell, James," she whined. "Dad's gonna kill me! And Scorpius!"

James shrugged. "I'm on the verge of killing the guy myself."

"James!" she cried.

"Just being honest. Look, if you tell them through a letter, they're gonna go mental, and you're not gonna be able to handle their reaction right away. Doing it in person is obviously smarter. Use the brains we know you have." He stared at her meaningfully.

Finally, Rose grumbled, "Yeah, I suppose you're right. I'll just have to face them."

Bidding James good-bye, she sauntered out the door, experiencing a sinking feeling of dread as she envisioned her father's furious face when the scene would take place.

* * *

Maybe if they weren't holding hands, they wouldn't feel the anxious sweat practically oozing from their pores, but Rose and Scorpius found that they simply couldn't let go of each other. They were sitting in a cabin on the Hogwarts Express with the older members of Rose's family, all of whom knew about their relationship.

While James hadn't dropped the surly, judgmental, overprotective take since his conversation with Rose, and committed himself to glaring into a magazine throughout the entire train ride, the others were being generally supportive. Another one of her older boy cousins, Fred, had had a reaction similar to James's, but was being somewhat more willing to give Scorpius a chance. Thankfully, he was running wild in the train with some of his prankster friends trying to set off some end-of-term, "celebratory" fireworks. Rose didn't need him joining forces with James as another Older Brother. Any other day, James would have been with Fred and the Gryffindor seventh year boys, but today he fully intended to observe Rose and Scorpius to make sure his cousin's boyfriend didn't get up to any funny business.

Rose told her brother Hugo the very next day and had received an encouraging response. He had told her that she could date whomever she pleased as long as the guy wasn't on any opposing Quidditch teams. Unfortunately, he was currently in a separate compartment with his new girlfriend; Rose had been hoping he'd join them, simply to oppose James's glower.

She was also slightly disappointed that Fred's sister Roxanne wasn't in the compartment either, for she was also on Rose's side. Roxy, a fifth year, had spent nearly the whole term squealing about her new duties as a Prefect, so it was expected that she spend the entire ride in the Prefects' cabin.

"So, I hear you're telling the family today, Scorpius," said Lily, Rose's younger cousin.

Glaring at her, Rose coughed pointedly. Because the fourteen-year-old, spotty Lily was slightly miffed that Rose had a new, seemingly wonderful boyfriend, and Hugo had a new and smoking hot girlfriend, while she was still swimming in a pool of raging hormones, she ignored her cousin.

"Uh, yeah, yeah I am," said Scorpius.

"You nervous?" said Albus.

Rose shot him a look as well. Had her family eaten a spoonful of 'clueless' with their breakfast today?

Attempting a smile (though it turned out to be more of a grimace), Scorpius squeaked, "No. Not really."

"Shut up, Albus!" scoffed Molly. "Of course he's nervous. Give him a break!"

With a sigh of relief, Rose smiled at her. She'd always got on well with Molly, her Uncle Percy's daughter, even though she was a seventh year. It was probably because they both had the most brains in the family; Molly, however, was a Ravenclaw, which had always been a point of contention between them.

"Are you telling them together?" James interjected, speaking for the first time.

Startled, Rose glanced up at him. "What?"

"You know," he muttered, waving his hand flippantly. "Are you gonna tell your parents with him or are you gonna do it alone?"

Slightly unnerved, the couple looked at each other. This was something they hadn't discussed.

"You really should've planned this properly," said Lily, snickering.

"Oh, come on, Lily, leave them alone!" said Molly. Rose gave her a thankful look, before she added, "They're going to be furious anyway, they don't need you to annoy them."

"Don't listen to her, Rose," Albus reassured her. "You too, Scorpius. I'm not gonna lie to you and say they'll be okay with it, but you're almost of age. They'll come 'round in no time."

James snorted and turned a page of his magazine as if nothing had happened.

To Rose's great astonishment, Scorpius turned to her and said quite definitively, "I think we should tell them together."

The cabin fell silent in shock; even James tore his attention from his magazine.

"Wh-what?" she said softly.

"Yeah," he said, smiling and squeezing her hand gently. "I think we should do that. I wanna be, like, you know…a supportive boyfriend or whatever."

"Aunt Hermione will like that," James spoke up.

Rose glanced at him in surprise.

"What?" he said with a shrug, returning to his magazine. "She will."

"Thanks, James," said Scorpius.

James merely grunted. Smirking to herself, Rose shook her head. Clearly, he'd begun to offer his support, but once again, his stubbornness trumped. Suddenly, the train slowed and screeched to a stop.

"We're here?" said Lily. "Already?"

"Looks like it," Scorpius murmured. He had turned sickly yellow color, but as Albus gave him a sharp clap on the shoulder, he seemed to come to his senses.

"It's gonna be fine, mate," said Albus. "You know…eventually."

"Good luck," said Molly, looking at them earnestly as she exited the compartment, Albus and Lily following her.

Rose released Scorpius's hand and allowed him to move in front of her; as she passed James, she squeezed his shoulder briefly and whispered, "Thanks, James."

For a moment, he looked as though he might say something, but merely nodded, stood up, and left. With a shuddering breath, Rose gritted her teeth, and followed her family and her boyfriend onto the platform to face what she'd been dreading for the last two months.

The December air was cold and biting, and Rose felt an urge to curl up in her boyfriend's arms. Instead, she settled for pulling her coat and scarf more tightly around her, a slightly disappointing compromise. As usual, Platform 9¾ was buzzing with commotion: Families were reuniting, hysterical mothers of first years were hugging their children and wrapping them in dozens of scarves, and the usual fans of the Potter-Weasley family had flocked around the Golden Trio. Today, the crowd of photographers and autograph nerds proved a friend to Rose, for it concealed Scorpius's presence next to her quite easily.

She gazed over the crowd at her parents, her Uncle Harry and her Aunt Ginny, who immediately embraced their three children. Harry was dressed in a Grandma Weasley sweater and was holding his wife comfortably.

"How are you there, Rose?" he called over the many heads of the people standing between them.

"Great!" she called back.

"Rosie!" cried her father, reaching through the crowd to pull his daughter into a warm hug. She relaxed, but only ever so slightly.

"Hello, Rose!" said her mother, looking overjoyed to see her. "How was your term? Are you still doing well in your classes?"

"Yeah, yeah, Mum, I am," she said, waving her parents' comments away. "Listen, I've got something to tell you."

By now, her cousins had gathered around them, as had their parents.

"ROSE!" shouted her Uncle George, running through the crowd and practically dragging his wife Angelina behind him. "AND JAMES AND LILY AND MOLLY AND ROXY AND FRED!"

Everybody laughed loudly at George's enthusiasm; he was by far the most energetic person the Potter-Weasley family had ever experienced.

"George, will you please calm the bloody hell down!" exclaimed Angelina, eliciting another laugh from the family.

Behind Rose, Scorpius murmured, "Your family is wonderful."

Without turning around for fear of drawing attention to him, she smiled. "Thanks," she whispered.

"Angelina, I'm sure if you had a Sickle—even a Knut for every time you've had to say that, you'd be rich enough to leave the jokester," said Ginny, drawing Angelina into a hug.

"No amount of money would take my Angie away from me!" cried George, yanking his wife back into his arms and planting a wet kiss on her cheek, ignoring her protest. "And even if money tempted her, I'm one of the richest men in wizarding England." He puffed his chest proudly.

"Hey!" Ron complained. "At least credit me a little bit for that! I'm probably most of the reason you are!"

That was true; Ron had become a full member of the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes after the Second War, and the business had proved to be a huge money-maker. More than once, Rose had witnessed her Uncle George poking fun at his mother about this.

Just then, Hugo showed up with his new girlfriend by his side. Rose stared at him in panic and distress as he presented her proudly to his parents; she had wanted to introduce Scorpius to them first.

"Hey there, Hugo!" said Ron. "Who's this?"

"Mum, Dad, I want you to meet Holly," Hugo said, snaking his arm around the girl's waist.

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley," she said cheerily, extending her hand to their father. Holly had dirty blonde hair and wore a skimpy, bright blue top matched with sparkly blue and gold eye-makeup.

Ron gave her a welcoming smile and shook her hand in a friendly manner. "Hello, there," he said. "I'm Ron, you can just call me Ron."

"Oh, well, thank you, Ron!" said Holly, flashing him a smile. She turned to her boyfriend's mother and said, "So I should call you Hermione?"

Rose detected the faintest look of distaste on her mother's face as she answered, "No, dear, I prefer to be called 'Mrs. Weasley.' My husband's just friendlier than I am, I suppose." This, of course, was completely false; Hermione preferred all of her children's, nieces' and nephews' friends to refer to her by her first name. Rose exchanged a knowing look with her Uncle Harry, who was watching on in amusement.

"You're Harry Potter, yeah?" said Holly, turning to the most famous man alive and looking positively enthralled.

Harry cleared his throat and replied, "Yes, I am."

"Bloody hell," Holly breathed.

The rest of the family members were observing the scene while whispering to each other about Hugo's new girlfriend. Clearly, only he and his father were at all impressed with the blonde bimbo.

This gave Rose some relief, but one look at her father's eyes as he asked her, "So, Rosie, what'd you have to tell us?" sent that feeling flying away quicker than a Golden Snitch.

"Well," said Rose hesitantly. She wanted to tell them the news before they noticed Scorpius behind her, but she glanced back at him for support almost automatically. In terrible dismay, Rose watched as her parents took in the sight of the blonde boy with the familiar, sharp features. Their suspicions were confirmed when, to the nervous couple's shock, Draco and Astoria Malfoy approached their son and the Weasley family.

"Scorpius," said Draco, clearly perplexed. "We were wondering where you'd gone."

By now, all the Hogwarts cousins were holding their breaths in tension at the scene. Rose was immensely grateful for Albus's surreptitious, comforting grip on her elbow, but it did very little for her nerves as she watched her boyfriend turn to face his parents.

"Sorry, Dad," he said quietly. "I-I was going to come, but…"

"Yes, Scorpius?" Astoria said after a moment. "What happened?"

"He wanted to come here with me first," Rose spoke up. The thankful look on Scorpius's face was plenty of reward for the courage her words had needed.

A moment of shock followed Rose's statement.

Hermione was the first to speak. "What do you mean, Rose?" Her mother was one of the most liberal, tolerant members of the family; surely she would understand most easily?

Using this reasoning as fuel, Rose turned to her mother and said without faltering, "I mean that he wanted to come here with me to meet you and Dad so that we could tell you that we're seeing each other."

For a moment, it felt amazing to just get the stress off her chest, but her mother's face turned every ounce of that stress into doubly heavy regret. She and Ron were staring at their daughter in utter shock and something like horror.

From behind them, Draco spoke, "'Seeing,' as in…?"

"As in 'dating,' Dad," said Scorpius. "I'm dating Rose."

"You're dating Rose," Draco repeated. "Rose Weasley."

"And what's it to you, Malfoy?" said Ron heatedly.

Harry and Ginny had been watching warily until this moment, when Ginny said in a warning tone, "Ron, not now."

Draco looked as though he was about to respond, but his wife gripped his arm tightly and said quickly, "He doesn't mean anything by it, sir. I apologize for his rudeness." She smiled tentatively.

Because Ron and Hermione seemed to still be slightly dumbstruck, Ginny stepped in hastily and replied warmly, "No need, no need. I'm Ginny Potter." Smiling at Scorpius's mother in encouragement, she extended her hand.

Though she looked more than a little surprised, Astoria accepted the handshake gracefully. "Thank you. I'm Astoria Malfoy. It's lovely to meet you."

"Thank you. You as well," said Harry, stepping forward. "I'm Harry. We haven't met, but I know your husband."

"Yes, I-I know," said Astoria, trying to suppress an amused smile.

"And you're Scorpius, am I right?" said Ginny, looking at the terrified blonde boy.

"Yeah," he said nervously. "I mean—yes, yes I am. It's nice to meet you, ma'am."

Shaking his hand as well, Ginny replied with a laugh, "No, no, love, call me Ginny."

This seemed to break Hermione out of her trance. "Oh, goodness, I'm so sorry!" she cried. "I'm Hermione. Hermione Weasley. It is certainly lovely to meet you, Astoria. Also a beautiful name."

It was obvious to Rose that her mother was trying desperately to amend her behavior, but at this moment she couldn't care less; all that mattered was that she was trying.

"Thank you, Hermione. That's also a charming name," said Astoria, looking the tiniest bit more comfortable.

Hermione, on the other hand, was growing more awkward by the second.

"It is truly nice to see you again, Mal—Draco," she said, avoiding the man's eye. "I can't believe it's been so long. And we both work at the Ministry as well!"

"Mum," Rose muttered. This was getting out of hand.

"And you, Scorpius!" Hermione said, now nearly blabbering. "I saw you when you were just eleven, right here on this platform! Goodness, how you've grown!"

"Mum," Rose said, more firmly.

"_Hermione!_" Ginny hissed, tugging at her best friend's sleeve. She had gone far past humiliating herself, but she still had some shreds of dignity to be saved.

"You know, I have been terribly, terribly rude!" she tittered. "You three should come around to Christmas dinner! Ron and I are hosting it this year, and the whole family will be there."

"Oh, erm, I don't know about that…" said Astoria, glancing at her husband, who seemed to be locked in a glaring match with Ron.

"No, no! Please, come. It would make me feel ohsomuch better about my rudeness earlier," Hermione cried.

"I'm sure we'd love to, but…" Astoria tried.

"I insist," pressed Hermione.

At this point, Ginny and Rose had given up and were now exchanging hopeless looks.

With one last, fruitless glimpse at her husband, Astoria finally said, "All right. I suppose we have no plans."

"Merlin," Scorpius breathed in Rose's ear. "We. Are. Doomed."

* * *

**A/N:** This one was a little bit longer than the others, and it came out as a much more awkward scene than I had intended it, but I liked it! Let me know what you think. I can't wait for Christmas dinner, and I won't make you wait either! Next chapter will be up in 2-3 days.

~Maya


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** This chapter is kind of a long one, but the dinner won't happen until the next chapter. There is a reason for this: I wanted to ask you readers if you want to see all the conversations from Rose's and Scorpius's (third person limited) perspective, or whether you'd like to get some insight on conversations/events that don't directly include the two main characters. Let me know in the reviews!

Also, to answer a question directly: Hermione acted that way out of sheer awkwardness. In this world, the Golden Trio have not had to face Draco Malfoy in years, and upon hearing that her daughter is seriously dating his son, the shock overwhelms her into spiraling off in a whirl of awkwardness. Hermione isn't perfect, and I wanted to bring that out as one of her flaws.

~Maya

* * *

**Time Bomb**

Chapter 5

They left the platform in total, unbearable, torturously awkward silence. Apparently, Ron was still too shocked to register what had just happened, but Hermione's face was stricken; she was clearly suffocating under the weight of her embarrassment. The two seemed to be moving by the will of their bodies, because their minds were most definitely elsewhere, and probably peeing themselves. The rest of the family was watching them warily, so that they'd be ready to dive out of the way when they finally exploded.

Though Rose could tell that her family members were all stealing glances at her, but the flurry of emotions bouncing off the insides of her skull kept her eyes fixed on the ground. She didn't have the tiniest clue on how to react to this. She knew her father would overcome the disbelief and eventually move on to being wildly angry, but her focus was presently on her mother. Her lovely, amazing mother who, when Rose had insisted on having a picnic for all the cousins _and_ on baking all the cookies and pastries, had saved the day by secretly conjuring up some cookies when the plan had so inevitably failed, who, when a boy had insulted Rose, had yelled clever and furious insults at him and his mother, and who had just invited the Malfoys to Christmas dinner.

Holly, Hugo's girlfriend, broke the silence.

"So…who were those people?" she said.

"Just some people my parents and Uncle Ron hated when they were in school, baby," Hugo replied, kissing her cheek.

"Ew," said Lucy from her father Percy's arms. "Get a room."

"Only six and completely brilliant," said Percy proudly.

"We'll see who's brilliant when I get all my N.E.W.T.s," said Molly, smiling teasingly at her father.

Before Percy could retort, his wife Audrey chastised, "Now, come on, you two. There are obviously more pressing issues at hand."

"Only Audrey could make _dinner with the Malfoys_ sound so professional," George laughed. Then, he grew thoughtful and added, "So could Perce, actually. No wonder you ended up together."

"Oh, bloody hell," Ginny muttered under her breath. "Dad's gonna love this."

Nearly all the adults froze at her words. Although their children knew vaguely about Granddad Weasley's enmity with Lucius Malfoy, the Weasley siblings now exchanged horrified glances, each thinking back to a different moment when their father and Lucius Malfoy had encountered a less-than-pleasant exchange.

"I'm sorry!" Hermione wailed at last. "I don't know what came over me! That was the stupidest, stupidest thing I've ever done!"

"Hell, yes," said Harry, grinning. "You even trumped the troll incident with this one."

Hermione shot him the dirtiest look anybody had ever seen her wear.

"It probably won't be that bad," Albus tried.

"Al, you are a brilliant and wonderful son. We have always appreciated your knack for making situations seem less of a big deal." said Harry. "But at this moment, I'd advise you to shut up."

He did.

Finally, Ron spoke. "They're not going to come."

Uncertainly, Hermione glanced at her husband. "What do you mean? I-I just invited them. Astoria—Mrs. Malfoy said 'yes.' Of course they're going to come."

"They're not going to come," he repeated.

"But Ron—"

"You heard me," he said firmly.

"You're being ridiculous," said Hermione, irritated. "Just be clear."

He looked her directly in the eyes and said, "We're un-inviting them."

"Dad!" cried Rose. "You can't do that!"

Ron stared at her in a mixture of disbelief and disappointment. "Please don't get involved, Rose. You have no idea what the Malfoy family is, and I'm going to make damn sure you never have to find out."

"Ron," said Ginny softly. "Talk to her about him. Talk to her before you make a judgment."

"Shut up, Ginny," he said. "You didn't know Malfoy like we did."

"Yeah, but I did," Harry pointed out, "and I agree with my wife."

"I'm _not_ un-inviting them," said Hermione. "Our daughter is seeing their son. If either family is going to be disrespectful, I'm not gonna make the first move. They'll have to do that."

"Yeah, and you can count on Malfoy to do it!" said Ron incredulously. "I can't believe you're doing this. You _heard_ what he said there at the platform!"

"He said nothing worse than what you're saying now," said Hermione.

"So are you saying I'm like Malfoy now?" he demanded.

Slowly, the rest of the family was dispersing, saying their quiet good-byes to Harry and avoiding the arguing couple. Rose watched them go in despair, wishing that they'd stay just so that she could feel less alone.

"Guys, let's go home," said Harry. "You can come over to our place."

"Ohmigod, I get to see Harry Potter's house!" squealed Holly.

Everyone turned to look at her.

"Where are you parents, dear?" said Hermione stiffly.

"Oh, did I not say?" Hugo said innocently. "She's coming to stay with us over Christmas holiday."

"That is not happening, Hugo," she said resolutely.

"But I already told my parents!" Holly whined. "I've got nowhere to go!"

"Oh, of course you can stay with us, Holly," said Ron loudly. "I mean, if we're going to make wild exceptions for Rose dating whoever she pleases, I see no reason Hugo's girlfriend can't stay with us."

Hermione glared at him as Hugo's and Holly's faces lit up.

"Thanks, Ron!" said Holly, smiling at him.

"Really, Dad?" said Hugo hopefully.

"No, Hugo," Hermione replied. "Your girlfriend can come with us to Harry's and we will owl her parents from there to come pick her up."

"Er…" said Harry uncomfortably, but refrained from objecting. Hermione's desperate expression was just too pitiful.

* * *

After many minutes of silence, Astoria Malfoy finally said, "Well…they seemed nice."

"Nice?" Draco choked out. "Nice?! Are you serious?"

"They were friendly with us," she insisted. "You can't deny that, Draco."

"You weren't in our year, Astoria," he argued. "You don't know what they were like." Draco Malfoy was in a state of shock that his son had found romance with his oldest school enemy's daughter. At the moment, he couldn't bring himself to even look at Scorpius.

"How is she, Scorpius?" Astoria said gently, ignoring her husband's splutters.

"She's…she's great," said Scorpius, grinning. "I-I can't even say, Mum."

"That's wonderful." She squeezed his shoulder warmly and smiled widely at him. Throughout Scorpius's school career, Astoria's biggest fear was that he'd never find a special friend, one who could make him feel safe, loved, and happy in a way that she and her husband never could. Knowing that he had this, whether or not it would last, put her at peace.

"Wonderful?" Draco repeated. "Come on, Astoria! I've told you about the Weasleys. You can't just change your mind because Scorpius says she's 'great.' We have to do something!"

Of course, Scorpius had expected this sort of reaction from his father, but he chose to stay silent. On more than one occasion, he'd found that situations like this often worked themselves out. All it took was a little strength, a little smarts, and a little stubbornness.

"Like what, Draco?" Astoria demanded, irritated.

"We can't go to _Christmas dinner_ at the Weasleys'!"

"Well, I would've said 'no,' but you made that totally impossible!" she cried.

They arrived at the Malfoy Manor, and Scorpius left his parents to their argument and went in search of his grandmother.

Narcissa Malfoy had spent the days after her husband's trial and conviction mostly in her bedroom and seldom showed her face. Her platinum blonde hair had turned completely white, and her elegantly sharp features were now covered with a layer of wrinkled skin. She'd grown thinner than a street lamp and almost never spoke.

And Scorpius was beyond excited to tell her about his new girlfriend.

Without a doubt, he knew that this knowledge would shock his grandmother, but he loved her more than he could ever say, and he knew she loved him as well. Grandma Malfoy lived to see her grandson happy, and this would give her just that.

"Grandma?" said Scorpius gently as he opened the door to her bedroom. She was sitting on her bed with an open book in her hands, but she closed it when she saw her grandson enter the room.

"Hello, Scorpius," she murmured, taking him into her bony arms. She didn't release him for a long time. "Did you have a good school term?"

"Yes, it was great," he said, pulling away and settling into an armchair by her bed.

Narcissa raised her eyebrows in slight surprise. "You've never been so enthusiastic about school before," she commented.

"Yes, well, it's because…you know," he said awkwardly. Unlike Draco and Astoria, Narcissa knew all about Scorpius's bullying problems, because even though he knew she'd blame herself, he also knew she was strong and wise enough to understand.

"And those issues have—changed, now, have they?" she asked.

"Yes, yes they have, Grandma," he said excitedly. "Grandma, I got a girlfriend."

With a soft, composed smile that Scorpius recognized as an ecstatically happy one, she said, "Really? That's wonderful news, Scorpius. Do I know her?"

"You probably do," he said without hesitating. "She's Rose Weasley. Her parents are Ronald and Hermione Weasley. You know, the war heroes?"

Her smile faded as she nodded thoughtfully. "The war heroes," she repeated, mostly to herself. "I trust you know this won't fare well with your father?"

Sheepishly, Scorpius replied, "Yeah. Already learned that."

Nodding again, Narcissa said, "Once, she would have been someone we'd never even think of accepting. If your grandfather was alive, things may have been different. But the war changed us, Scorpius. It changed me."

Tentatively, Scorpius said, "So…?"

"So, I cannot say I will welcome her with open arms, darling," she said apologetically. "I know that isn't what you, a sixteen-year-old, love-struck boy, want to hear, but it's the best I can do. I will, however, not turn her away. If you say she makes you happy, I'll trust you."

Scorpius broke into a wide grin and hugged his grandmother tightly again. "Thank you, Grandma," he whispered in her ear.

As he closed her bedroom door behind him, he heard her say, "I've not seen you smile that like in six years…"

* * *

The Potter home was easily up high on each family member's list of 'best places to crash, hang out, or do anything for that matter.' When Harry and Ginny had first begun looking for their home, Harry had wanted to find a simple shack and fashion it like the Burrow, but Ginny had been vehemently against that idea. Something about 'too many brother memories.' For a few months, everybody thought that they would never agree on a place, until they came upon a cottage slightly north of the Burrow with which they both simply fell head-over-heels in love.

It was at the foot of a small hill that was practically shivering under a coat of snow. Several yards from the front garden was a frozen lake, beyond which a field of grass (the family's makeshift Quidditch pitch) spread. Scattered with magical and colorful dancing flowers, the garden welcomed them, beckoning them to the wooden front door with the most beautifully intricate carvings. Up in the corner were the names 'Harry' and 'Ginny' in the tiniest cursive, and around the sides were four distinct animals: A stag, a doe, a dog, and a wolf.

All of which elicited this most meaningful response from Holly: "_Tsk._ A bit tasteless, isn't it?" The cliché phrase 'If looks could kill' had never been more relevant.

"Why don't you come inside, Holly?" said Hermione with gritted teeth.

"I mean, it's not the castle I'd expect Harry Potter to live in," she mumbled as she followed the family inside.

Immediately, everybody headed for their own particular 'spot' in the house; it had countless of them, for the family sitting room was enormous. Hermione settled into her favorite, straight-backed armchair, shut her eyes and massaged the bridge of her nose with a sigh. Harry and Ginny, the lovebirds they were, plopped onto the soft, gray sofa and lay comfortably against each other. Even Rose, in her tense state, snuggled up against a large, red cushion on the ground.

"Come on, baby, I'll show you my favorite spot in the house," said Hugo, pulling Holly towards the staircase.

"Hold on, Hugo," said Hermione sharply, without opening her eyes.

"What?" he demanded impatiently.

"I'd prefer if you and your girlfriend stayed down here."

"But Mum—"

"Go on up, Hugo. Your mother's just stressed out," Ron said harshly.

Taking pity on Hermione, who looked far too frustrated to continue arguing, Ginny interjected, "James, Al, Lily, why don't you three go with him?"

Her face made it clear that they were not to protest, so James and Albus followed Hugo and Holly out of the room. Lily, however, remained stationary.

"Lily?" Harry questioned.

"But she's horrible!" Lily whispered. "Do I really have to?"

"Let her stay," Rose said. "Please." Even though Lily had her teenage-brat-moments, she was completely on board with Rose's relationship and that made her a much-needed ally in this particular situation.

One look at Rose told Harry all he needed. "All right, Lily."

"Yes!" she cried triumphantly, plunking her skinny bottom onto a Gryffindor beanbag in the corner, a gift from a fan.

After a long moment of silence, Hermione spoke from her hands, "Okay, Rose. We need to talk about this."

"Can we first please un-invite Malfoy?" Ron demanded.

"Ron, you are being a complete and utter moron right now, but I'm going to ignore that because I'm certain you and I can both agree that what's more important right now is talking to Rose about her new boyfriend," his wife replied in a single breath, definitely for the purpose of scaring him into silence. It worked.

Between their arguments, neither parent had noticed their daughter steadily growing paler.

"Rose, what's going on?" said Harry, taking charge.

"Erm, you know…like I said, Scorpius and I have been dating him for-for a little while," she said quietly, trying to ignore her father's grimace.

"But-but why, Rose?" Hermione asked wretchedly. "You've never even mentioned the boy before, ever. None of you have."

"Hugo never mentioned Holly," Rose pointed out indignantly.

At this, Lily smirked, "I can see why."

"Now, Lily," said Ginny patiently. "You can't make judgments without giving her a chance."

"She already blew any potential chances she had," said Lily. "She's _that_ bad. James and Al must be hating you right now."

Even Ginny could not keep herself from smiling amusedly.

"My point," said Hermione loudly, "is that if Scorpius Malfoy was involved in any of your lives even remotely, someone would've mentioned it. _Holly_ isn't as big of a deal as Scorpius is. You're a smart girl, Rose, I know you are. You have to know this."

She could feel her heart being slowly crushed as her mother spoke. "I-I do," she assented in a small voice.

"Good," said Ron. "So you'll break up, then?"

Startled, Rose looked up at him. "What? No! I didn't say that!"

"But Rose—"

"I'm not gonna break up with Scorpius just because it'll get a little complicated!" cried Rose indignantly, standing up.

"Not just 'a little,' Rosie," Hermione argued.

"I thought you were all for not being prejudiced!" she said to Hermione accusingly. Their stubbornness and refusal to even consider a different viewpoint was more than she could take.

"I am, Rose," said Hermione. "But even I can't really say I'm okay with this! Sometimes it's not about being prejudiced. Sometimes it's about being smart."

"He makes me _happy_, Mum," she implored. "I'm not going to break up with him because YOU can't see past his name."

"She has a point, there, Hermione," said Ginny softly. Hermione shot her a death glare.

"Rose, you can't trust him," said Ron. "You know what his dad was like."

"No, Dad, I don't," Rose snapped. "I've never met Draco Malfoy."

"Yeah, but we did!" said Ron, gesturing to himself and his two best friends. "And he's an ass. I'll say it straight—he's an ass. And I'll say his son is one, too."

"Ron, now you're just being unfair," Ginny exclaimed. Ron had always been the most obstinate, the most over-protective, and the most bigheaded of her brothers, and she expected no less of him in this situation. Still, though, she couldn't help but remember how Harry had made her feel when she'd been sixteen years old. And even though Harry's case was a polar opposite one than that of Scorpius Malfoy, Ginny couldn't deny that she'd discovered a boy who was entirely unlike what was said of him. She couldn't help but feel that perhaps Scorpius was the same way.

"You stay out of this, Ginny," said Ron coldly.

"Hey, now," said Harry. "You want to cool down there, mate?"

"Rose, if you break up with the Malfoy kid now, we won't have to have dinner with their family!" said Ron eagerly, apparently believing that this would provide incentive for his daughter.

Enraged, she shouted, "So that's all you care about, is it? Getting rid of my boyfriend so that _you_ don't have to sit with your old school enemy? Bloody hell, Dad, I'm only sixteen and I'm not that petty!"

Only Harry noticed Ron cringe at the word 'boyfriend.'

"Why don't you all give him a chance?" said Lily quietly. Everyone turned to her instantly. Quite uncomfortably, she was fiddling with a strand of her matted red hair and biting her lip.

"What do you mean, Lily?" said Hermione gently, realizing that they had made her feel uneasy.

Without looking up, Lily shrugged. "I dunno. Just-just have dinner with the family. See how they are. It-it looked like that woman was pretty nice, at least to you guys."

"You don't understand, Lily," said Ron abruptly. "You don't know the Malfoys like we do."

"Oh, stop throwing that bit around, Dad," said Rose, clearly angry.

"I think Lily has a point," Harry said loudly. He glanced at Rose; her face was red and blotchy, sweat sticking strands of her red curls to her forehead. More than anything, he wished his niece had been more tactful about her announcement. Once he'd seen the pale-faced, blonde boy next to her, he'd known it would have been too much to hope to avoid a scene at the platform itself, let alone avoid this argument. But now, he was tired of it.

"What the hell, mate?" cried Ron. "This is Malfoy we're talking about! _Malfoy_!"

"I know who Malfoy is, Ron," said Harry coolly. "I remember. But Rose isn't stupid, and neither are most of our kids. And they all seem to think this kid is all right. We can hate Malfoy all we want, but do we need to hate his kid?"

"We should at least have the Christmas dinner with them. Just to check the boy out," Ginny added. Surreptitiously, she squeezed Harry's hand gratefully; she was beginning to lose hope that the argument would ever end.

Sighing loudly, Hermione finally said, "Fine. I suppose now that I've already invited them"—she winced—"we should try."

An intense look of relief passed over Rose's face. "Oh, thank you, thank you!" she cried.

Ron still looked extremely reluctant, so Harry said slyly, "You know, our Christmas dinners are always packed with the family members."

"So what?" Ron grumbled.

"So there's about twenty-five of us and only three of them…"

"Harry," Ginny warned.

"Oh, God, Harry," Hermione groaned.

Ron's face suddenly lit up. "Wicked," he whispered.

* * *

**A/N:** The most difficult parts of this chapter for me to write were Ron's over-protectiveness (I'm still sort of unsatisfied with it) and the scene with Narcissa. I felt while I was writing it that there's no way she could have changed like this, but part of me thinks that the war simply wore her out - that she could no longer hold up her prejudices. As you can see, the strain of her emotions has aged her very much. I hope you liked this chapter!

~Maya


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** This chapter's a little shorter than the ones I've posted before, but it felt complete to me.

First of all, I'd like to say thanks for all the reviews! You're all awesome:) Also, I got a couple of Ron-haters, and I didn't mean to paint him in that sort of light. Personally, I adore Ron, and I think his behavior fits with his character (a little pigheaded, but with good intentions and a big heart). I love that he's a Gryffindor all the way and that he'd go to wild lengths to protect those who matter to him. I also wanted to portray that he's grown up since Hogwarts, which I think I have done in this chapter.

Lastly, I did get a request to continue this story further, as in past the family conflict. I had some vague ideas that haven't formed into a real story yet, but I wanted to get more opinions on this. What do you think? Should this be a longer story? If I do that, then I will definitely expand on each character and maybe even introduce a little drama/adventure into it. Let me know in the reviews!

~Maya

* * *

**Time Bomb**

Chapter 6

"Ron was being a git, don't you think?" said Ginny as she shut the door behind her brother and his family after they left.

Grinning, Harry simply said, "Yeah. Of course he was."

"I don't get it," she sighed, resuming her position on the sofa, lying in her husband's arms. "He's great when you need him for anything other than romance…" She thought back to her days at Hogwarts when Ron would fight constantly with her over her boyfriends.

"Come on, Ginny, you know him," Harry said, consolingly stroking her hair. "He's just beyond over-protective. I can't say that I wouldn't have reacted like that if Lily had been dating Malfoy's kid."

Ginny sat up and glared at Harry disapprovingly. "Harry, that's ridiculous. You know you can't make assumptions based on stupid things like an old school enmity. You know that's what happened between Snape and Sirius—and look how that turned out!" The shocked, hurt look on Harry's face made her wish she could snatch her words out of the air and suck them back into her brain.

"Ginny…that's-that's not what I meant," he said softly.

"I know," she said, grabbing and squeezing his hand in apology. "I know you didn't. I just—I dunno why I said that. I just don't think we should judge Scorpius Malfoy based on what his father did once. Clearly, he's trying to mend his faults."

"How d'you figure that?"

"Well, he's working in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, isn't he? They put wrongdoers in prison, Harry. That looks like an apology to the world to me," said Ginny.

Thoughtfully, Harry nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right. But see, it's not just about that. It's about the Malfoy family altogether. I'm sure that regardless of the social changes and whatever Draco Malfoy is doing now, they must still have pureblood supremacist ideals, Ginny."

"You can't know that," she said hurriedly.

"Yes, I know you can't," he replied patiently. "But it's something we have to at least admit, isn't it? I just want to make sure Rose is safe."

At this, Ginny fell silent. Though she firmly believed that prejudice was one of the hugest hindrances to society's progression, she also wanted to protect her family. If that meant using a prejudice to be cautious, she would have to accept that.

"Fine," she sighed. "I guess you're right about that."

With an amused smile, Harry leaned down and pecked her on the lips. "But you know that Ron's not using any of this logic, right?"

Ginny laughed. "Yeah. I know my brother, Harry. He just wants to hate Scorpius Malfoy 'cause he's dating his little girl. The 'being-a-Malfoy' thing is just an excuse."

"Yeah," Harry agreed, nodding. "And that's what I meant. I'd probably fly off the handle if Lily came home with a boyfriend, too."

Squeezing Harry around the waist, Ginny kissed his cheek and whispered in his ear, "That's what makes you a wonderful father. I never have to worry that someone will hurt our kids and get away with it."

Harry let out a deep sigh. "Let's just hope Ron tones it down a bit."

Pulling away, Ginny grimaced. This might have been too much to hope for.

_Dear Rose,_

_My parents exploded. Totally the reaction we were expecting. I hope your experience was better than mine. They're still willing to come to Christmas, but I don't know whether I should be glad about this or scared out of my wits. _

_I miss you a lot. I didn't realize how much time we'd been spending together until we couldn't spend any together at all. I really, really wish I could see you._

_Today I walked through the rose garden behind the Manor, and I was trying to find the perfect one. Then, I realized she was far away._

_I'll be honest—the conversation at the platform made me really nervous. We're going to get through this, right? No matter what? I can't bear the thought of losing you because of our families._

_Write back soon, please._

_Yours,_

_Scorpius_

_Dear Scorpius,_

_Trust me. Your experience was better than mine. They've been yelling for two days. I try to listen in sometimes, but usually it's not even about the actual issue—my dad just gets carried away and stops making sense. Christmas dinner is definitely happening, though, but I have to warn you—my family is HUGE. And they're going to absolutely bombard you._

_I really miss you, too. Your letter made me blush like a twelve-year-old. You, Scorpius Malfoy, are a cheeseball. But I still love you. I really can't wait until Christmas. Even if it all goes down in flames, at least we'll get to see each other. _

_I promise we'll get through whatever happens, Scorpius. You'll never lose me, and I hope I'll never lose you, either. _

_Love,_

_Rose_

_Dear Rose,_

_Thanks. That made me feel a lot better. You've got a really positive way of looking at everything. I hope I can learn to do that, too. _

_Today, Mum and Dad came to the agreement that they'll "trust my judgment" and meet you without bias. Obviously, my dad's not going to do that. Mum probably will, but Dad's going to try to find everything wrong with you that he can. I just realized that that will probably make you nervous as hell—but don't worry. Just be yourself, and he'll never be able to find a single flaw._

_I wanted to ask if it's okay for my grandmother to come to Christmas dinner as well? She's being really good about the whole thing, and she really wants to meet you. If not, just let me know, and it won't be a problem._

_Scorpius._

Rose was rummaging through the drawers of her enormous desk for a quill and some ink when her bedroom door opened. In came her father, looking haggard and stressed, but smiling nonetheless.

Uncertainly, she said, "Hi?" It sounded like a question.

"Hey, Rosie." Nickname. That was a good sign.

"What's up?" she said, gesturing for him to sit on her bed. He did so, and spent several moments opening and closing his mouth wordlessly.

Finally, he began, "Your mum's been talking to me."

"And…?" she said, raising her eyebrows.

"I'm just going to tell you that I will not trust the boy. I don't care what anyone says. I know what I'm talking about," he said brusquely.

With a scoff, Rose turned back to her drawers, fighting back tears. She had been so hoping that her father had come to reconcile with her and tell her that he would accept Scorpius for who he was rather than how he'd been named.

"But," he added, talking to Rose's back, "I will meet him. We raised you to be smart, Rose, and I hope you're being smart. I'm not gonna insult your intelligence and just assume you don't know what you're doing at all."

Hopefully, disbelievingly, she turned around to face him. "Really? You're saying you trust me."

Sighing almost reluctantly, Ron smiled. "Yeah, Rosie. I trust you. I do. I just don't trust the Malfoy boy. But I'll give him a-a chance."

It seemed as though his words had taken a lot of effort, so Rose smiled at him gratefully. "Thank you, Dad," she said.

Nodding with an air of finality, Ron stood up and made to leave. Before he stepped out the door, he asked, "Is that a letter from him, there?"

"Yeah," Rose replied hesitantly. "He's-he's asking if his grandma can come, too."

It took a long moment before Ron finally said, with a strong pain in his voice, "Yeah. Tell him fine." And then he left.

Back downstairs, Ron collapsed on the grayish-blue sofa and dropped his head into his hands. Looking at him sympathetically, Hermione approached him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"Tough?" she asked.

Ron merely grunted.

"Yeah," she murmured, understanding completely. It had been harder than anything for her to accept that her daughter was smitten with the son of a man who had tormented her so very viciously, but for Rose's sake she did so.

"Why Malfoy?" Ron managed to moan from between his fingers. "Why'd it have to be him?"

"I don't know, Ron," said Hermione hopelessly. "But if Rose likes him so much, then maybe he's all right. He seemed fine on the platform, didn't he?"

"I-I dunno," Ron admitted. "I was too busy glaring at Malfoy. I didn't even pay attention to the kid."

"He was better than _Holly_," Hermione griped. "What Hugo sees in that girl…"

Holly's parents had sent an owl back to the Weasley home, replying to Hermione's letter requesting them to pick up their daughter and saying that they were quite busy on holiday and simply couldn't return to Britain at the moment. For the time being, Holly was staying with them. This, needless to say, had made Hermione extremely upset.

"Holly's not that bad," said Ron, looking at his wife in surprise. "I actually kind of like her."

"Ronald, she's horrible," Hermione whispered. "I know what girls like that do, and she's going to break Hugo's heart.

"I doubt it," said Ron with a shrug. "But if she does, then she'll have the whole Weasley family to deal with, won't she?"

Hermione smiled slightly at this; one thing she loved about Ron was that he didn't hold a double standard with his children—whatever Hugo could do, so could Rose.

"We don't know anything about Scorpius Malfoy," said Hermione, her smile fading away as this realization dawned on her.

"He was a loser at school," said Hugo from the doorway.

The couple on the couch looked up suddenly, startled.

"Oh, hi, Hugo," said Hermione warmly. "D'you want something to eat?"

"Yeah, actually," he replied, moving over to the refrigerator. By Hermione's rules, they refrained from using magic too much, so they were able to use certain Muggle appliances. "Holly was asking for some of that pie from last night."

Trying to hide her grimace, Hermione mumbled, "Yeah, it's in the back of the fridge."

As Hugo rummaged through the food, Ron prompted, "So? He was a loser? Why does Rose want to date a loser?"

"I did," Hermione teased, nudging her husband in the ribs. He scowled at her.

"I dunno about that," said Hugo, "but I know that pretty much everyone hated him. We never really knew him, but I guess because we're Weasleys and Scorpius is from a Death Eater family, everyone just assumed we hated him, too? Or something like that…"

"Everyone hated him?" Hermione repeated, now somewhat concerned. If everyone at Hogwarts disliked this boy, was Rose's judgment horribly off?

"Yeah," Hugo answered, pulling out the box of pie and shutting the refrigerator door. "People used to jinx him all over the place. I don't really know much about it. He's not in my year."

Before they could question him further, Holly called from upstairs, "Hugo? I'm hungry!" and he hurried away.

Glowering at the spot where Hugo had been standing, Hermione said softly, "It sounds like a case of reverse bloody purity discrimination to me."

"Maybe," said Ron shortly. "But I don't like that stuff about people hating him. Why would they hate him if there wasn't something there to hate?"

"Hugo said they didn't know him very well…" she said hesitantly. Did her husband have a point? Should this worry her?

"Best be on our guard," said Ron firmly, standing up and going to stand in the stairwell.

"What are you—"

"HEY, HUGO!" he yelled.

"WHAT?"

"BRING ME SOME PIE!"

Scorpius's eyes flew open. It was Christmas morning. The morning of Christmas. The morning of Christmas dinner. Christmas dinner at the Weasleys'. The Weasleys'. It was also time for a mini-heart attack.

A soft knock on his door jolted Scorpius out of his reverie.

"Yeah, come in," he called.

To his slight surprise, his father walked into the room, smiling nervously.

"Happy Christmas," he said, sitting on the edge of Scorpius's bed.

"Mmm, yeah. Merry Christmas," Scorpius replied, rubbing his eyes and smiling back groggily.

"How are you this morning, Scorpius?" Draco was still wearing his nervous expression.

"Er…I just got up," his son replied. "Dad, are you okay?"

"'Dad,'" Draco repeated quietly, almost to himself. "You called me 'Dad.' You've never done that."

"Oh, yeah," said Scorpius. He hadn't even noticed the change. "That's right. I always called you 'Father.'"

"Yes. Yes, you did. What's different?" Draco's tone was almost demanding.

Propping himself up on his elbows, Scorpius said, "I dunno. It just feels, like, right, I guess. Why? Why does it matter?"

"It's the Weasley girl isn't it? Your girlfriend? She's changing you," Draco said. "You're becoming so different. What's going on?"

"Whoa, whoa, Dad, calm down," said Scorpius, grinning slightly. It was, frankly, quite hilarious to see his father so worked up over something this silly. "Are you just panicking about the dinner tonight?"

"What? No," he scoffed, much too quickly. "Panicked? About the dinner? I'd totally forgotten about it. Didn't even know what you were talking about for a second." His voice seemed to have jumped an octave.

"Dad…"

Finally, Draco sighed heavily and shot Scorpius a pleading look. "Come on, you can't blame me for being nervous! It's dinner. In the home. Of the people I hated. And hated me. For seven years. And their family. Their huge, huge family."

Scorpius rolled his eyes; his father was acting like a teenage girl. "Dad, come on. It won't be that bad. Just-just be nice."

For a moment, it looked like Draco was going to complain more, but instead he hastily said, "Sorry. The last thing you need is to give me advice about this. You're probably just as nervous. I'll go."

Keeping his laughter buried deep within him, Scorpius responded, "Sure, Dad. See you in a bit."

As Draco approached the door, he asked tentatively, "What is it with the 'Dad' thing?"

Although it was clear that he wasn't expecting an answer, Scorpius said quietly, "She makes me feel comfortable with myself—enough to be comfortable with you."

Extremely touched, Draco couldn't even bring himself to nod at his son. Grunting awkwardly, he left, shutting the door behind him and feeling incredibly jealous that his son, at sixteen, had found someone who could make him feel a way Draco hadn't ever felt.

* * *

**A/N:** Please tell me how you feel about this chapter! I love reviews and you guys are all so great. If you have story ideas for a longer story, please don't hesitate to leave them or PM me. I'd really appreciate it.

~Maya


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Thank you all for your great reviews! I appreciate every single one of them! Just letting you all know, I will be continuing this story because so many people requested it. Because of this, this chapter's going to be a little different than the previous ones. Before, I'd been just outlining Rose's and Scorpius's relationship, but as it's going to be a more lengthy story, I decided that I needed to set a baseline for the families. There is plot development, don't worry, but there's more character development in this one. Please enjoy!

~Maya

* * *

**Time Bomb**

Chapter 7

Rose's stomach was filled with an odd mixture of dread and excitement when she awoke that morning. Not a hint of drowsiness in her, she turned to look at the new twin bed that occupied the other side of her room, temporarily, her mother had assured her. Though they had been forced to grudgingly allow Holly to stay in their home, Hermione had refused, point-blank, to allow her son and his girlfriend to sleep in the same room. Instead, she was to stay with Rose. On another occasion, Rose might have protested with a spectacular tantrum, but because her parents were at least trying to make an effort with her new relationship, she felt she had better stay on their good sides.

Upon seeing that the extra bed was empty and made up perfectly as though it hadn't been slept in at all, Rose rolled her eyes. Holly had made it a habit of sneaking into Hugo's room after everyone had gone to sleep. Frankly, Rose was surprised her mother hadn't discovered it yet. A few times, the idea of telling on them seemed tempting, but her parents were already on edge because of her and Scorpius. They didn't need another row in the family. Besides, it was only a matter of time before Hugo would realize that she was horrible, and dump her. There was no need to create a fuss over a relationship that was doomed to the degree that theirs was.

Sighing, she threw her covers off and wrapped a heavy dressing gown around her, blessing the warming charms that her mother had cared to place on the house. Nerves tingling at the thought of tonight, Rose headed down the stairs to open her Christmas presents.

* * *

Having barely slept two winks, Hermione was still fidgeting in bed. To her dismay, Ron had fallen asleep as she clutched his hand, and he had not moved since then. When sunlight started peering through their bedroom window at last, Hermione breathed a sigh of relief and began prodding her husband mercilessly.

"Wha…ow—ouch, Hermione, what are you doing?" Ron mumbled groggily.

"It's morning, Ron. Wake up," she said briskly, kissing him on the cheek.

Grumbling, Ron replied, "Why are you waking me? You know I like to get up on my own time…"

"Yes, well, it's Christmas morning," she reminded him. "That's an exception."

Her words had just the effect she had wanted: Ron's eyes flew wide open and he practically fell out of bed before jumping onto his feet and pumping a fist in the air.

"Christmas!" he shouted jubilantly.

Hermione chuckled, gazing at him fondly. He was still the boy she'd fallen in love with. Suddenly, his expression grew fearful and anxious, and he looked at his wife in a panic.

"Christmas," he repeated, though this time in a tiny, terrified voice.

"Yes, I know," said Hermione quietly. "Christmas dinner."

A moment of silence passed between them, and finally Ron said bracingly, "Well, it's not like we have to face it alone. We have the whole family with us, don't we? And it's not like the worst of the Malfoys is coming."

At this, Hermione nodded, feeling the smallest bit of relief. Lucius Malfoy was long dead from a life sentence in Azkaban prison.

"Listen, Hermione," said Ron seriously, sitting back on the bed and taking both her hands in his. "We can definitely get through this. Harry and Ginny will be here, and they'll definitely make sure we—_I_—don't get out of control. All right?"

Slowly letting out a breath she'd been unaware she was holding, Hermione smiled at him. "Yeah. We'll get through this together," she said confidently.

But as they began their morning routine, both of them felt that confidence waver so very slightly.

* * *

Moaning softly, Hugo opened his eyes blearily as the morning sunlight pierced them. Almost out of habit, he turned to his night side table to see the clock perched on it—and panicked. It was ten o'clock. Everyone else must be wide awake by now. And it was Christmas morning. Surely his parents would have come to wake him up earlier than this? And if they had…

With a feeling of intense dread, Hugo looked down at the blonde girl sleeping in his arms. If they had seen her with him, he was—there was no other way to put it—_screwed_.

Hurriedly, he jumped out of bed and shook Holly awake as gently as he could. There was not an ounce of sleep left in him, as it had been replaced entirely by anxiety.

"Holly?" he whispered fretfully. "Holly, come on, get up. It's late now."

"Mm. No," she protested, swatting at his hand.

"Please, Holly," he said patiently. "You need to get up. Come on. We'll be in boatloads of trouble if they find out—"

"Why are you so bloody scared of your parents anyway?" she mumbled before rolling over and tucking the blankets more firmly around her.

Hugo sighed, frustrated, and ran a hand through his red hair, wondering frantically what to do. Luckily, he was saved from coming up with an idea, because Holly now shoved the covers off her body and sat up in bed, scowling at him.

"Thanks," she grumbled. "You totally woke me up. I was having such a good sleep."

He was so relieved by her compliance that he could only say, "Thank you…thank you…"

"Whatever," she muttered, stepping around him to head to the bathroom.

The bubble of anxiety that had lodged itself between Hugo's ribs had shrunk slightly, but was still there nonetheless. If he was honest with himself, he'd know it had been there ever since he'd first asked Holly out. But he was not going to admit that. Holly was a blessing, and he cared for her deeply. If she came with a little bit of stress, well, then she was worth the trouble.

Breathing heavily, he sat on his bed and sank his head into his hands. He remained there for several minutes, until he heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Rose, I appreciate your concern for your brother, but it's now half-past-ten and I can't let him sleep in any longer," Hermione was saying.

"But Mum," Rose replied a little too loudly. "We were all up pretty late last night, remember? Then, after that…er…Holly and Hugo and I stayed up a little while longer, just chatting!"

Hugo raised his head from his hands, cocking an eyebrow at Rose's lie. Why would she make something like that up?

The footsteps stopped. Evidently, this was what Rose had been hoping for, as her voice adopted a tone of relief. "Yeah," she added. "It-it was great. I, er, I got to know Holly a little better."

"You did?" said Hermione in disbelief. Hugo could just picture her eyebrows raised high, mouth in a thin, I-know-you're-lying-to-me kind of line, hands on her hips.

"Yes, we did," said Rose. "I think that's why he and Holly are both still asleep. She was fast asleep when I woke up, and still asleep when I went and checked an hour ago."

_What?_ Hugo mouthed to himself, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. The only reason Rose would to lie like this would be to cover up for him, but she would never do that. Would she?

"What's going on?" Holly's voice had joined them.

"Oh, hello, Holly," said Hermione coolly. Hugo cringed; he knew his mother was extremely displeased with their new living arrangement.

"Yeah, hi," said Holly. "What's up?"

"Morning, Holly," said Rose, raising her voice again. "I was just telling my mum that you've been asleep in my room for so long because the three of us stayed up really late last night talking. It was really nice getting to know you better."

It took several moments of still silence before Holly got the message and said, "Oh yeah. Yeah we did."

"Well, that's great, but I really need to wake up Hugo," said Hermione impatiently. "It's late, and it's Christmas morning. This is ridiculous."

Before she could approach his room, Hugo strode to his door and opened it, pulling the best surprised expression he could manage.

"Oh, hi, Mum!" he said cheerfully. "Happy Christmas!"

"Happy Christmas, Hugo," Hermione replied, smiling warmly, all traces of frustration gone. She hugged him tightly.

"Sorry I slept in," he said sheepishly. "We were up late last night talking, you see—"

"Yes, yes, I've heard the story," she said, though she was still smiling. "Now let's go downstairs, shall we? Your father's made a special breakfast, and he's been absolutely dying to open his presents."

The trio allowed her to get out of earshot before Rose hissed, "What the _hell_, Hugo? You put me in a right state all morning!"

"Sorry, sorry," said Hugo hastily. "I'm really sorry, Rose. What-what did you do?"

"More than you will ever be able to repay me for," she whispered furiously. "Mum and Dad were getting really annoyed, and I couldn't let them go upstairs! So when Mum finally got fed up and went to check what you were doing, I did it instead."

"Wait a moment," Holly interjected, earning a cold glare from Rose, which she apparently missed completely. "How did you know I was with Hugo?"

Hugo's girlfriend's daftness amazed her. "You're supposed to be sleeping in my room, Holly," Rose snarled. "You think I wouldn't know after I saw the bed empty, like, every morning?"

Before Holly could retort, Hugo said, "Why did you do that, Rose?"

For a moment, Rose was silent. Then, she said, "I guess…because I don't want them to freak out. They're already freaking out because of me. And it's probably because…I know what it's like to have a hard time because of who you're dating."

She and her brother shared the most meaningful moment they ever had in their lives, and then it was broken.

"Well, great. Can we go downstairs now? Mum and Dad have probably sent me a thousand presents," Holly smirked.

* * *

Christmas morning was always wildly exciting for Albus, and today was no exception. He was aware of what was going to happen that night, but he had full confidence in his family that they would work everything out wonderfully.

In a festive fervor, he scrambled out of bed and washed up hurriedly before rushing into his sister's room. To his surprise, Lily was already awake and brushing her hair in front of a vanity mirror.

"Hi, Lily!" said Albus happily. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas, Al," she said, her voice lacking the usual Christmas cheer.

His smile faded. "What's up? Worried you're not going to get any good presents?" he teased.

Lily, however, did not find this amusing. "I don't know what you're talking about," she sniffed. "I'll meet you downstairs."

Their older brother James would have probably bought her lie and carried on nonchalantly, but Albus was always more in touch with his emotional side than his jokester brother. He pulled up Lily's desk chair and sat next to her in front of the vanity table.

"What's up, Lily?" he asked, seriously this time.

For a moment, Lily looked as though she was going to pass it off as nothing again, but then she turned to face Albus and simply could no longer hold it in.

"Oh Al," she cried softly, her bottom lip quivering.

"What happened?" Al demanded, alarmed, as she practically fell onto him tearfully. "Was it some guy? I'll kill him, I swear. We all will."

"No, no," she blubbered, pulling away and wiping her eyes. "It's-it's just the opposite, actually."

"What?" said Al, now thoroughly confused. Most of the boys in his family thought he was the emotional one, but his feelings paled in comparison to his sister's.

She turned back to look at her reflection. "You know. I-I just wish guys would notice me. But then, why would they?" she said bitterly.

"What?" Al said again, but with a surprised laugh this time. "Are you serious, Lily?"

"Well, yeah!" she said desperately. "I mean—look at me." Gesturing at the mirror hopelessly, she looked down, as though unwilling to look at herself for another second.

"Lily, listen to me," said Al gently, touching her shoulder. "Boys notice you."

"No, they don't," she muttered. "You're just saying that to be nice."

"Well, okay, partially," Al admitted. "But it's true. Boys _definitely_ notice you."

Hopefully, Lily looked up at him. "Yeah? Really?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "But that's not the point. The point is that you don't need boys to notice you right now, anyway."

All traces of hope fled from her face and were replaced by anger. "What the hell, Al? Why'd you have to go and say that?"

"Shut up and let me finish," he insisted. "Look, right now, you should be focusing on being the best person you can be. That way, when you do like a boy and start dating, you'll be the best Lily you can be and you won't have to go and try to change yourself for him."

She still looked unconvinced.

Sighing, Albus added, "It gets better, Lily. Girls didn't like me when I was fourteen either."

"They still don't," she teased him. Albus swatted her shoulder, laughing.

"I'm being serious!" he exclaimed.

"I know," she said apologetically. "But, I mean, Hugo's fourteen, too. He's got a girlfriend!"

Albus raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Really? Personally, I'd rather be alone forever than be with _Holly_."

At this, Lily chuckled. "True that."

They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, and then Albus offered, "Let's go wake up James and then get Mum and Dad all together."

This thought cheered Lily up slightly. Of course, one talk with her brother had not banished her insecurities forever, but for the time being, she could keep from resenting herself and everyone around her. It was, after all, Christmas.

* * *

Upon Lily's request that he wake James without her, Albus found himself in his brother's huge room. Their parents didn't know it, but they had wrestled for this room many years ago, when they'd been old enough to move out of the nursery. Albus had fought valiantly, but his brother, one year his senior and twice as broad as him, had inevitably won. Thus, the room was now James's, and as Albus looked around it, he had to admit grudgingly that no one could have done a better job with it.

Red curtains with gold tassels framed the huge windows, and countless posters and photographs adorned the walls. The sheets on his bed were Quidditch-themed—white with Snitches embroidered delicately into the fabric. In one of the corners, there was a comfortable hollow in which James had set up two bean bags (red and gold, of course) and a short, multipurpose table. He and Albus would often sit in this area and play Exploding Snap or Wizard's Chess on the table, or else James would use it as a place to do his summer homework lazily.

Again, Albus was met with a surprise: His brother was up and dressed in an old Christmas sweater, looking more excited than ever.

"What's up, little bro?" he said enthusiastically. "Ready to go?"

"Merry Christmas." Albus grinned. "Waiting for Lily."

"Oh, we're not gonna wake her up?" James looked thoroughly disappointed. "I was looking forward to scaring the hell out of her."

Laughing, Albus shook his head. "No, she's already awake. She told me to go ahead."

"Well, I guess we should wait for her before we go and wake Mum and Dad, then," said James glumly sitting down on his bed.

Albus hesitated for a moment, and then decided to take advantage of Lily's absence. "Listen," he said in a low voice. "I want to talk to you about Lily."

"What about her?" James asked casually, feeling the sheets for his wand.

"She thinks she's not pretty enough for boys to like her."

Abandoning his search completely, James sat bolt upright and stared at his younger brother. Lily, their baby sister, worrying about being pretty? For _boys_? No. No, this had to be put right.

"What?" he demanded, standing immediately. "Why? Who did this? Was it some bastard boyfriend? I'll show him—"

"No, no!" cried Al hastily, throwing his arms forward to stop James from storming out of the room right there. "It's not like that—it's nothing like that."

"Then what is it?" said James impatiently. "I don't need you to be all cryptic and, like, all _Albus_, not when my baby sister—"

"James, shut up. She's just having image and self-esteem issues," said Al, irritated. "Stop overreacting. I don't think she's dating anyone. She's upset about _not_ dating someone."

"Lily doesn't need to date right now," said James instantly. "She's too young."

"Shut up, James," Albus repeated. "Just—I just wanted to tell you not to make any jokes about her being, I dunno, spotty. All right?"

Though James was clearly unhappy with the arrangement of keeping quiet, he nodded. "All right. For Lily, I guess."

"Thanks," said Albus, relieved.

"But if she's dating anyone, I want to know right away."

Albus rolled his eyes. "Come on, let's go scare the hell out of Mum and Dad."

* * *

Harry and Ginny awoke quite comfortably, tangled in each other's arms, legs wrapped around each other's bodies. As always, Harry felt enormously lucky to wake up like this; if the war had taught him anything, it had been to count his blessings every second of every day, and the woman in his arms was one of the biggest.

"Hey, Ginny," he murmured, brushing a lock of red hair behind her ear. "Good morning."

"Mmm," she replied sleepily, without opening her eyes. "Hey."

He leaned in for a kiss, ignoring the inevitable morning breath, when—

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

"Holy—"

"Bloody—"

Both of them jumped out bed and thrust their wands into the air, directly in their children's faces. Breathing heavily, they lowered their wands simultaneously when they realized who was, in fact, standing in front of them. The three siblings burst out laughing, clutching their stomachs as they howled.

"That is NOT okay!" Ginny cried, putting a hand to her chest.

"Just for that, you lose your Christmas presents from me," said Harry firmly.

Instantly, they stopped laughing and stared at their father in shock. His expression was firm, resolute. As far as he was concerned, they were not getting Christmas presents.

"Dad…we're sorry," said Lily weakly. "We thought it'd be a laugh, that's all…" She turned hopelessly to her brothers.

"Yeah, Dad. We didn't realize it'd shock you that much," Albus apologized.

"Yeah, come on, Dad," James pleaded. "We didn't mean to scare you—well, we did—but only a little! I guess we forgot that you're paranoid—" He shut up when Lily jabbed her elbow into his rib.

Harry gazed at them reproachfully, and promptly burst out laughing. "You should see your faces," he roared, slapping his knees. "I got you this time!"

Aghast, they turned to face their mother, only to see that she was also giggling. "He did. He really did," she said, trying to stifle her laughter. "That's what you get for pranking us every Christmas morning for the last, oh, I don't know, ten years? Fifteen?"

"I've lost count," said Harry, still laughing. "But that, that there, was worth all of them."

The three siblings were scowling and muttering under their breaths. Pranking and scaring their parents on Christmas morning was something they loved doing every single year.

"Oh, come on," said Harry. "Get over it. It's not like you've never been pranked before."

"Yeah, but not by our own parents!" Lily cried indignantly.

"I've gotta agree there," said Al glumly. "That was disappointing."

To everyone's surprise, a grin was slowly creeping on James's face.

"What's up, James?" said Harry curiously.

"We saw you and Mum," he said slowly, his grin broadening. "We saw how you and Mum were sleeping."

"What's your point, James?" Ginny demanded impatiently, though she had turned slightly pink.

"Well…the whole family's coming for dinner tonight…" He bit his lip to keep from laughing out loud at their expressions.

"Look—James—I'm sorry—" Harry tried.

"JAMES SIRIUS POTTER, IF YOU SO MUCH AS BREATHE A WORD TO MY BROTHERS, I SWEAR I WILL…"

But her screams faded as the siblings ran out of their parents' bedroom and down the stairs, laughing and congratulating the eldest on his idea.

* * *

An angry swarm of butterflies seemed to have replaced Molly's entire gut when she awoke, as they did every morning. Every single day, she dreaded the conversations she would have to have with her parents. The girl definitely had some Slytherin traits in her, for she put up such an excellent show of cheery calm, when in reality she was a nervous wreck. In the entire family, Molly was perhaps the only person who was thoroughly relieved about Rose's news: It meant she did not have to come out with her own. With a heavy, tremulous sigh, she rose from her bed and embarked on her usual morning routine.

* * *

Lucy's birthday was coming up, so Percy and Audrey were immensely relieved to not be hosting the Christmas dinner this year. She was one of the few cousins who had yet to go to Hogwarts (her favorite cousin was Dominque, who would leave next September), and to make it up to her, they were throwing her a marvelous party for her seventh birthday. Unfortunately, it seemed that they could not get past tiny disagreements.

The couple had risen early on Christmas morning, and descended the staircase to the kitchen while arguing.

"Percy, you know we can't do all that," Audrey snapped. "Stop being unrealistic."

"Well, is it my fault that I want to give my daughter the perfect party?" he demanded. "I'm _trying _ to be a good parent, Audrey."

"Oh, and I'm not?" she said angrily. "Well, then, excuse me for being the responsible one, as usual—"

"Oh, right," Percy snorted. "You. Responsible. There's a laugh."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, Audrey," he said, turning to the stove and heating it magically, topping it with a frying pan.

"No, Percy, you tell me what you meant by that," she repeated.

"I didn't mean anything," he insisted coolly. "Yeah. You're responsible. You're the most responsible parent."

With a feral snarl, Audrey opened her mouth to retort, but was cut off by the sound of a throat clearing.

"Mum? Dad?"

Molly was standing in front of the kitchen door with her arms crossed over her chest and a worried expression.

"Hi, Molly," said Audrey wearily. "Good morning. Merry Christmas."

"Happy Christmas, sweetheart," said Percy, hugging her.

She hugged her father half-heartedly and asked, "What's going on?"

"Nothing, nothing, dear," said Audrey, forcing a smile. "Just…trying to plan Lucy's birthday."

"Oh." Her heart was pounding. They had been fighting like this for weeks; whenever they were alone and thought their daughters weren't listening, they immediately started going off on each other. None of the rest of the family knew about it; as far as they were concerned, Percy and Audrey were a happy, slightly pompous couple. Molly never knew what to do, and her parents would never let her in.

Giving them one last look of uncertainty, she said, "Should I go get Lucy, then? We can open presents."

Sighing, Audrey nodded and moved to the stove to start on breakfast. Without another word, Molly hurried up the stairs to her sister's bedroom. Gently, she opened the door so as not to wake Lucy up, but it was in vain.

"Hey, Lucy," said Molly, smiling. "You're awake. Happy Christmas."

"They were fighting again," she said at once. The tiny, six-year-old blonde girl had pulled her covers up to her chin and was clutching them desperately.

Molly felt a pang of sadness at her sister's words. No child should have fears like this.

"It's all right," said Molly soothingly, sitting at the edge of the bed and taking her sister's hand. "They've stopped."

Though she still looked unsure, Lucy nodded nevertheless.

"You should come downstairs for Christmas presents," Molly encouraged. "Or, well, for you it's like round one of presents. Round two comes, like, next month."

At this, Lucy giggled and said teasingly, "Oh, it's okay, Molly. Don't feel too badly. I'll give you some of my presents."

"Thanks, Lucy," said Molly skeptically.

She was not surprised when she heard Lucy chuckle under her breath, "Not."

* * *

Bill woke up with a shuddering yawn on Christmas morning and found that he was sweating buckets. _Damn heating charms. We need to turn them down tonight_, he thought, irritated. Then, he remembered that it was Christmas, and therefore there would be a colossal Christmas dinner, after which most family members slept over at the host family's home. This was Bill's favorite part of Christmas—he often felt he didn't spend enough time with his distant family.

"Good morning, Bill," said Fleur, his dazzling wife, as she sauntered into the room, carrying a cup of tea in each hand. "Wish you a Happy Christmas." Over the years, her French accent had gotten considerably better, almost unnoticeable.

"Thanks, babe," he said, taking a cup out of her hand and pulling her gently onto the bed with him. "You too."

"Shall we wake up the children now?" she asked. Taking a dainty sip of her tea, she looked up at him with her big blue eyes.

He smiled, as he always did when he looked at his wife, and kissed her forehead. "Nah," he said. "Let them sleep."

"All right, but remember—you promised Ron and Hermione that we would help them get ready for tonight," she said, a note of warning in her voice.

"Ah, yes," said Bill happily. He knew that George would also be there, and so would Harry and his family. "That'll be fun."

"Yes, yes," said Fleur impatiently. "But we need to go soon if we are to do that, darling."

"No problem, love," he said with another kiss.

"Bill," Fleur began wearily. "You have forgotten."

"Forgotten what?" said Bill absently, now moving to get dressed for the Christmas presents.

"Teddy is here."

Immediately, Bill froze, his hand on the ribbon he was about to fasten his dressing gown with. He cursed under his breath as he remembered: His oldest daughter's boyfriend—_fiancé_—was in their home, in her bedroom, in her _bed_.

"Aw, hell," he moaned. For years, he'd known that the relationship between Teddy Lupin and their Victoire was a serious one, and he'd been expecting the proposal soon enough. But Victoire, even at twenty-two, still seemed like a baby to him.

"Bill, you know that you would have never considered her too young for anything until this," said Fleur, reading his mind.

"I know, I know," he grumbled, angry at himself. "I just can't-can't let her go."

Smiling at him sympathetically, Fleur walked around the bed to her husband and wrapped her arms around his broad chest. Almost unconsciously, his arms fell around her slim shoulders.

"I know, Bill," she whispered. "But she's a grown woman. She doesn't even live here anymore. It's time to let her go."

Although Bill knew the truth in his wife's words, he couldn't bring himself to completely heed them. Every time he saw the sparkling ring on Victoire's finger, images of him and his daughter as a child, laughing and playing, chattering animatedly, spending warm nights by the fire, swam before his eyes. When they faded, the reality of another person taking care of his baby was thrust in front of him.

"Let's go downstairs," he said, putting on a wide smile. It was Christmastime, and he would not pout.

Teddy was awake and dressed by the time Bill and Fleur traipsed down the stairs, and he greeted them jovially.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs…er, I mean, Mum and Dad?" he said tentatively. As a child, he'd always called them by their names, sometimes as 'Uncle Bill' and 'Auntie Fleur,' but after he'd started dating Victoire, he'd promptly changed to the more formal 'Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.' Now, however...

Bill inconspicuously let out a shallow breath before smiling at his future son-in-law. "Yeah, Teddy. Where's Victoire?"

"Sleeping," he answered promptly. "I didn't want to wake her. We had a long night—I-I-I mean, she didn't, er, sleep much—oh…no…" His hair was now turning tomato red as he glared at the floor, clearly muttering admonishment for his own behavior.

"It is all right, Teddy," said Fleur kindly, without a hint of amusement at his bashfulness.

Bill, on the other hand, was not so graceful. "Long night, yeah? Didn't sleep much?" he repeated lightly, grabbing a piece of toast from a huge stack on the table.

"Er, that's-that's not what I meant," he stammered, but was saved from coming up with a story as to what he and this intimidating man's daughter might have been doing that would cause them to stay up late by Victoire's appearance.

"Hi, Teddy!" she exclaimed. "There you are!" Flouncing up to him girlishly, she planted a big kiss on his cheek.

"Hey, er, Happy Christmas, Victoire," he mumbled, trying to look happy rather than mortified.

"Oh yes! Happy Christmas, everyone!" she cried, beaming around the table. "Where's Louis and Dominique?"

"Dominique is in the shower. As for Louis, I was hoping you might know the answer to that," Fleur answered, her brow furrowing in concern.

"He's probably hiding," Bill reassured her. "Probably didn't finish someone's Christmas present. The Weasley in him, you know."

Though Fleur laughed at this statement, she couldn't completely shake the worry in her stomach. Her son had been acting oddly all vacation: He rarely spoke during meals, he spent much of his time out of the house or shut in his room, and sometimes she could hear forlorn music beating softly from behind his closed door. Louis _never_ listened to sad music.

As she pondered this, the front door squeaked open and tentative footsteps were heard coming into the hall.

"Louis?" called Fleur hopefully. "Is that you?"

After this, he seemed to realize that the effort of coming in without alerting anyone's attention was futile, so he shut the door quickly and hurried into the kitchen, clutching two wrapped presents.

"See? I told you!" cried Bill triumphantly. "He was out getting presents."

A shaky, relieved laugh went through Louis and he said, "Yeah. Yeah, Dad, you got me. Well, I-I'll just go put these under the tree, then…"

Fleur watched him leave the room with a frown on her face. Something was very odd indeed. Just then, the kitchen door crashed open and in came little Dominique, a proud grin on her face.

"Is it time to open presents yet?" she demanded eagerly. "You're all going to absolutely LOVE mine…"

* * *

It was with a heavy heart that George Weasley dragged himself out of bed and put a smile on his face. Christmas was always difficult for him. Any day was always difficult for him. Christmas, however, was especially hard, because he could easily track every Christmas he'd spent with his best friend and brother, every prank he'd pulled with him, every present he'd exchanged. Though he refused, on principle, to cry, George simply could not deny the painful twinges that went through him every year around this time. But the thought of going downstairs to see his wonderful wife and children, with their bright and excited faces, eased the sharp torture to a dull ache.

In a way, he was lucky that it had been Fred, for his relationship with him was so special, so irreplaceable, that he knew without a doubt that he had to smile for him. To honor his brother forever. He owed it to him.

With this thought driving him, George washed his face and bounded downstairs cheerfully, ready to see what his kids had planned for Christmas morning.

"Hey babe," said Angelina quietly, kissing him. "Merry Christmas."

"And you," he replied, kissing her back and smiling widely. Then, in a hushed voice, he said, "What have the kids thought up for this year?"

Pulling away, she gave him an amused look. "You know I'm not supposed to tell you that, George."

George pouted. "Come on, you're my wife! I'm your husband. We're supposed to be united against them!"

"Sorry, no can do," she said, shaking her head seriously. "I gave them my word, you know." Despite her solemn demeanor, George could tell she found the whole situation perfectly hilarious.

"Fine," he grumbled, and made his way apprehensively to the sitting room. Their tree was beautiful, as always, with bright purple and yellow baubles and ornaments fluttering around it magically. Beneath it was a small but still impressive mound of gifts, some beautifully wrapped and some from Ron Weasley.

Along with the presents, George's two children were also kneeling beneath the Christmas tree, grabbing present by present and chattering excitedly about what they hoped to receive. Only when George cleared his throat expectantly did Fred and Roxanne look up.

"Morning, Dad," said Fred brightly. "Happy Christmas."

"Yes, Daddy," said Roxanne, smiling like an angel. "Happy Christmas."

Eyeing them suspiciously, he replied, "Yeah. Happy Christmas. Are you ready to open your presents?"

"Yes, we all are," said Angelina from behind them, wiping her flour-covered hands on a towel.

"You first, Dad," said Fred encouragingly.

"Yeah, Dad, you first," Roxanne urged, pushing a small package wrapped in bright pink paper into his lap.

"Er…no, it's okay," he replied. "Why don't you go first?"

Fred and Roxanne groaned in unison.

"But DAD!"

"You have to open this one," said Roxanne earnestly. "It'll be awesome."

At this point, George was sure that the box contained their Christmas prank. Frankly, he was slightly disappointed that they were being so obvious about it; he'd taught them better than that.

"No, I think you'll like the present I gave you more," George insisted.

"Oh for Merlin's sake!" cried Angelina, throwing her towel onto the floor and stomping up to the tree. She seized a large present that had her name on it and tore off the wrapping paper.

"Blimey, Angelina," said George, amused. "It's not going anywhere. You can take your time."

She raised an eyebrow at him skeptically. "As if you ever wait to open a present."

"Yeah, Dad," Fred whined. "You never wait to open your presents. Why won't you open ours?"

"Please?" Roxanne implored, giving him the most innocent, puppy-dog eyes he'd ever seen.

Just then, Angelina squealed with excitement. The gift had been from Ron and Hermione—a very professional-looking shadow box filled with photos, medals, and article clippings all referencing her Quidditch career.

"Wow," said George, awed. It was very artistically done, no doubt the idea had been Ron's and the effort had been Hermione's.

"Wow is right!" Angelina exclaimed. "Oh hell, I hope my gift to them was good enough…"

"Okay, okay, it's great, now, Dad, can you _please_ open your present?" Roxanne demanded.

George sighed; clearly, he wasn't going to get around opening their prank. He would just have to look as unsurprised as he possibly could when whatever it was jumped out at him.

His children shared exhilarated glances as he slowly unwrapped the tiny box. When he opened it, he was overwhelmingly surprised to see, sitting on a plushy, velvet cushion, a small, purple badge reading _Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Come and get a laugh—we promise we're contagious._

"We designed it!" said Fred proudly. "It's a new product for the shop!"

"I really wanted it to be a 'W,'" Roxanne added. "But this was a good idea, too. I think we should sell 'Ws,' too, though!"

"Wow," said Angelina, almost breathless. "I had no idea about this! You two did it on your own?"

"Yeah, it took months of magic!" Fred said, evidently extremely proud of himself.

"It was pretty hard," Roxanne admitted. "But it was worth it!"

For this whole conversation, George had been staring at the badge, speechless. Memory after memory was crashing down upon him like hurricane waves on a shore—he and Fred dropping their prized Ton-Tongue Toffee in the Dursley home—he and Fred vomiting and fainting and growing pus-filled boils—he and Fred soaring into the Hogwarts sky, a horrible, toad-faced woman watching them in fury—he and Fred finally setting foot for the first time in their beloved Diagon Alley premises—he and Fred…

"George," Angelina said finally, with concern ringing through her voice. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he said softly, his voice breaking. "Yeah, I am."

He could see out of the corner of his eye Fred and Roxanne exchanging looks again, but this time they were confused and slightly disappointed.

Taking a deep breath, George plastered a grin on his face, gazing at his children with enormous affection.

"Thank you so much," he said expressively. "It's-it's seriously amazing."

They were gaping at him.

"Why don't we get along with opening presents?" Angelina suggested after a slight pause.

They all agreed heartily and dove into the pile of presents, ooh-ing and aah-ing about their new gifts and boasting about them to each other.

Suddenly, George recalled that the gift hadn't been a prank. His eyes narrowed as he thought, _What could they be planning?_ There was absolutely no way they'd simply forgotten to do a prank, he decided. It was Christmas, after all.

* * *

**A/N:** I hope everyone enjoyed that, and that it wasn't too different. I really liked writing it. Because I wanted to set up all the families like this, I decided to save the Christmas dinner for the next chapter. I have a lot planned for the characters, so I hope you stick with it. Please let me know how it was, and what you would like to see!

~Maya


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** So sorry for the long wait! I won't bore you with too much preamble. Enjoy!

* * *

**Time Bomb**

Chapter 8

When Bill and his family arrived at Ron and Hermione's house in the late morning, they were amused to find the inhabitants in a state of utter panic. This wasn't only due to the Malfoys coming, though it played a rather large role, but also the mere weight of hosting a Christmas dinner for the entirety of the Weasley family. Bill had offered to help because his family had once hosted the dinner recently, so he had the necessary experience to tackle the monster of a party. Fleur, on the other hand, had been most reluctant to offer her aid for precisely the same reason: She had no desire whatsoever to relive that experience.

"Panicked much?" said Bill, grinning as he hung his cloak, shaking snow out of his hair.

"Bill!" cried Hermione, face flushed. "Don't do that! Now we'll have to dry out the doormat, and that'll take _ages_…"

"Don't fret, Hermione," said Bill patiently, and he drew his wand and muttered an incantation to instantly dry the doormat.

"Oh," she said simply, and hurried back through the hall into the kitchen.

"She keeps forgetting she's a witch," Ron muttered to his brother, ushering Fleur and their kids into the sitting room. "I came downstairs from my shower and found her scrubbing the floor—_scrubbing_ it with her hands."

"Oh, poor dear," said Fleur sympathetically. "I remember when we hosted the dinner, Bill. Do you remember, darling? When you had to give me a Calming Draught because I could not cook the turkey through? My spell just wouldn't do when I was in stress like that…it worked out perfectly in the end, though…"

"Yes, _thank_ you, Fleur," Hermione snapped, holding her wand anxiously over a pot of boiling water. "Louis, Dom, would you like to go upstairs? I know Rose and Hugo are there." Though she tried to speak more gently to them, her voice still had a hint of harshness to it.

"And Holly," Ron reminded her. Hermione looked as though she might boil the water simply with her glare.

"Ooh, we heard about her," said Victoire enthusiastically, sitting at the bar with Teddy by her side.

"Really?" said Ron, startled. "How?"

"Oh, George dropped in for a visit," said Fleur airily. "He mentioned Hugo's new girlfriend, Holly."

"Mentioned quite a bit about her," said Victoire, grinning cheekily. Her breathtaking beauty was extraordinarily misleading; she seemed to give off the impression that she was a graceful, dainty, overly polite woman like her mother, when in reality she couldn't be more Weasley.

"Vic," Teddy chastised under his breath, though he too seemed to be fighting a smile.

"Yeah, well," griped Hermione, now dropping a huge tub of chopped potatoes into the pot. "We'll have to deal with her during dinner tonight—on top of everything else. Chop the other vegetables, Ron."

"It's not too bad, Hermione," said Ron reasonably, waving his wand in a complicated manner to manipulate three knives into chopping onions, garlic, and tomatoes.

Ron, they knew, was almost wholly inept in the fields of cooking and cleaning, so Bill was impressed to see him attend to Hermione's every order without question.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" Victoire demanded, looking fascinated. "I can't so much as charm a ladle to stir soup!"

"Why don't you come help me do this, and I'll teach you?" Hermione offered kindly. "Here…"

Warily, Victoire approached the stove and held her wand out. For a few moments, in accordance with Hermione's gentle, murmured instruction, the ladle began to move slowly around the edge of the pot.

"I'm doing it!" she said excitedly. "I can't believe this! Maman, look! You never taught me how to do it like this!"

Instantly, Fleur's face soured.

"Some wine, I think?" said Bill hurriedly, catching his wife's expression.

"Yeah, that sounds great!" said Ron cheerfully, clearly as oblivious as ever.

* * *

Five hours later, a fretful Molly Weasley and an exasperated Arthur Weasley stepped over Ron and Hermione's threshold.

"Come now, Molly, we told you to stay home," said Hermione reprovingly, taking her heavy cloak. "We're hosting the dinner this year so that _you_ can rest. You needn't have come, we had it under control."

"Hermione, dear, we saw the chimney smoking from about a hundred feet away," said Mrs. Weasley anxiously.

"What?" said Hermione, alarmed. "Smoking?! RON!"

"Molly," said Arthur. "It was smoking no more than ours usually does."

"Yeah, Mum," said Ron, who had come into the hall to greet his parents. "You only came 'cause you thought we'd fail at this."

"Oh, now that's not true, Ron," Mrs. Weasley chastised, bustling through the hall to the kitchen, taking control immediately.

"Molly!" protested Hermione as her mother-in-law shunted her aside and drew her wand over the pots on the stove.

"Just let her be, Hermione," Ron muttered in her ear. "We knew she was going to show up at some point."

"I'm actually surprised she sat still for five hours," Bill grinned.

"You can call it sitting still, I'd call it something very different," said Mr. Weasley under his breath.

Though she continued to protest for a few moments, eventually Hermione gave up and settled on the sofa, closing her eyes. When Ron took a seat next to her with his own glass of wine, offering her one, she whispered, "It is nice to have some of the pressure off."

Laughing under his breath, Ron murmured back, "And Merlin knows we've got enough pressure to deal with for tonight."

"Speaking of which," Mr. Weasley interjected, "I wanted to ask how we're going to approach the Malfoys tonight."

"What does that mean?" asked Ron uncertainly.

"Like, are we gonna go into it aggressively, or are we going to be ultra-open-minded?" said Bill.

"I'm for the former!" Victoire piped up, earning a disapproving look from her mother, who was flipping through a newspaper.

"I, of course, think we should be open-minded. As far as I know, the Malfoy family has done only what the Wizarding Britain has asked of it since the war," said Fleur. "Hermione, you really should carry good magazines. This _Daily Prophet_ grows tiresome."

"Can I say something?" said Teddy hesitantly.

"Of course," said Hermione at once. "You're a part of the family, Teddy. No need to feel shy."

He smiled at her, and then said, "I think the Scorpius issue won't be nearly as bad as you think it will. Nor do I think that Narcissa Malfoy will be a problem." He addressed Mr. Weasley, "You see, she comes in for visits once a month at St. Mungo's, and she's definitely too far gone to really understand what's happening."

"That's comforting," said Ron. "At least we won't have to worry about her pureblood supremacist ideals poisoning our dinner. It's only Draco's we've got to deal with now."

"Why isn't Scorpius a problem?" Hermione asked.

"Because he's a loser," said Teddy.

"Yeah, we heard about that," said Ron.

"Yeah, so I'm pretty sure he won't stand with the ideals that get him harassed all the time," said Teddy. "He ought to be a normal guy. I mean, aside from the effects of being bullied and all."

"Yeah, Lily told me that, too," Victoire agreed, her Weasley grin now a solemn expression. "She says he's got no friends."

"That's horrible," said Hermione. "Poor kid."

"There!" cried Mrs. Weasley triumphantly. "Turkey's done! And I believe that's it!"

"Thank you so much, Molly," said Hermione, hurrying up to the kitchen to help Mrs. Weasley carry the table settings into the extended room. For the purpose of the Christmas dinner, they had added a large room in the side of their house, with nothing but a long table in the middle, a fireplace, and cozy wall hangings. Much of the dinner was now on the table, kept warm with heating charms, and Fleur had sauntered in to put finishing touches on the decorations.

"There…that looks nice, does it not?" she said, admiring the tinsel that twirled itself around the two large Christmas trees in the corner. "And…I think the fire should sparkle." She turned her wand to the fireplace, and immediately red and green sparks began to crackle around the flames.

"Beautiful, Fleur," said Mrs. Weasley appreciatively.

"It is quite lovely," Hermione agreed, not meeting her eye. Fleur pursed her lips almost smugly.

"Hey Uncle Ron!" called Victoire from the sitting room, where she had strolled off to mingle with her younger cousins. "Why isn't there any mistletoe?"

Bill laughed uncontrollably as Ron's face paled, and he began grumbling incomprehensibly.

A loud BANG from the sitting room sent them all running, alarmed, out of the dining room extension. The adults entered the room to see a cluster of redheaded children racing around it.

"What the—" said Ron, as two smaller ones zoomed past him into the kitchen.

"No one in the kitchen!" said Hermione anxiously, scurrying after them.

"Was that Lily?" said Ron, staring after the two girls. "What's she doing here? Where's Harry and Ginny?"

They came in not a moment later, looking thoroughly exhausted and disheveled.

"Sorry, sorry," Ginny muttered hastily. "They were faster than us."

"We tried to keep up," said Harry. "Looks like everyone's having a great time."

At this moment, Hermione emerged from the kitchen and glared at Harry. "Just about everyone," she said sarcastically.

"I'm excited for dinner!" said Albus, smiling up at his aunt. "I can probably be excited enough for the both of us, so then you won't feel badly about being all fretful."

Everyone laughed, even Hermione.

"Are we going to have dinner soon?" said an unfamiliar voice.

Everyone turned around to look at a blonde girl with a sour expression on her face.

"Soon enough, Holly," said Ron, who was clearly the only person who had the patience to answer her.

"Good," she said. "I'm hungry."

"We all are, baby," added Hugo, appearing by her side. "But it's probably an hour or so before everyone shows, isn't it?"

"An hour or so," said Rose from the sofa. She was sitting up straight with her hands laced together so tightly it seemed impossible to ever unlace them, and though she was sitting still, her eyes kept moving rapidly around the room.

"Hey, Rose," said Ginny, moving over to sit by her niece. "You okay?"

"Yes. I'm all right," she answered tersely.

Ginny raised her eyebrows.

"Fine," Rose huffed. "I'm sweating like a pig. Happy?"

"I don't think anyone's happy," said Ginny quietly.

Rose didn't respond.

"It's gonna be all right," she continued. "Trust me."

Tight-lipped, Rose nodded.

"He seems like a nice boy," she added, patting Rose comfortingly on the back before leaving her there.

Looking quite ridiculous next to each other, Percy's and George's families arrived together. While Percy and Audrey looked merely politely excited, George and Angelina were oozing Christmas spirit. The latter could not resist poking fun at Percy every few seconds.

Fred and Roxanne came in right behind them, wearing identical excited expressions. Both looked extremely attractive and positively glowed with delight. Fred was holding Lucy's hand, and almost dragging the small girl behind her in his speed.

"Fred! Fred! Wait! I—can't—" Lucy panted, hurrying to keep up.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" he bellowed, disregarding his tiny cousin.

"Fred, you'll take her arm off," said Angelina, amused.

Slowly, trailing behind everyone, came Molly. Rose noticed that she looked rather sick; her face was twisted in an unpleasant grimace, and her hand was hovering over her stomach. Apparently not noticing her, Molly came and took a seat next to Rose on the sofa, staring into space.

"Are you okay, Molly?" said Rose.

Molly jumped a mile. "Yes!" she said, her voice higher than normal. "Yes, I am! Merry Christmas. How are you?"

"I'm all right," said Rose warily. "You look…a little ill."

"Do I?" she said, jittery. "I'm not. I'm just fine." She attempted an offhanded laugh, but gagged instead.

"Oh God, Molly," said Rose, standing. "Let's go up to my bedroom."

"No, no," Molly said, coughing. She looked absolutely panicked. "It's fine. Please. I-I just need some-some water…"

Before Rose could protest, her cousin had stood and scrambled to get to the kitchen. She made to follow her, but something across the room caught her eye: George was approaching Holly.

"So, Holly," said George, a wide grin on his face. "Looking forward to dinner with the family?"

"Yeah, I suppose I am," said Holly. "I hope dinner's good, though. Like, I could smell it from upstairs, and I dunno…"

"Dinner should be good, though, shouldn't it?" said George in a serious tone. "It is Christmas, I mean."

"I know, right?" she tutted. "I just don't trust Hugo's mum. I mean, I know he loves her and all, but still."

"Yeah, I can see what you're saying," said George, nodding. "Hermione is…something else."

Though they tried to carry on their own conversations, more people were listening in amusement now; clearly, Holly had no idea George was egging her on for everyone else's entertainment.

"What do you mean?" said Holly interestedly.

"Oh you know," he said airily, as though what he said had no importance. Holly was obviously riled up at this point. Even Hermione was looking on from several feet away, holding back laughter.

"No, tell me," she urged, but before he could say a word, there was a loud knock on the door.

Instantly, Rose shot towards the door. Every family member was looking around, counting heads, making sure everyone was there. They all were. Which could only mean…

"Scorpius!" she cried, flinging the door open. Her face broke out in a wide smile, all her worries dissipating. It was as though merely seeing him brought her the comfort of believing that everything would be all right.

"Hi, Rose," Scorpius said, returning her smile. Undoubtedly, he had felt the same way. The two seemed to be in a blissful state of ignorance, in a world away from the one filled with tension that was currently occupying her parents' house.

"Ahem," said Ginny, glaring pointedly at Hermione and Ron.

"Hello, Astoria," said Hermione quickly. She rushed forward to take her cloak, but the moment Astoria had removed it, she regretted the decision. Astoria Malfoy was wearing a fitted, glittery black dress that fell just past her knees, complete with sheer black stockings and high-heeled shoes. As she handed her cloak to Hermione and cast her eyes around the room, a hot blush crept up her pale neck. Everyone was dressed casually in knitted sweaters and jeans, lounging about a very cozy home.

"Hello, Hermione," she replied. "Merry Christmas."

"And you," said Ron.

There was an awkward pause.

"You look beautiful," Ginny said at last.

"Thank you," said Astoria.

Inconspicuously, Hermione nudged Ron hard in the ribs.

"Er—can I take your cloak, Mal-Draco?" said Ron. "And-and yours, erm, Mrs. Malfoy?"

Without making eye-contact, Draco handed Ron his cloak. He was clad in a complete suit, while Narcissa, as expected, wore classic dress robes. Admittedly, despite her attire, Narcissa Malfoy did look incredibly ill. Her silvery hair was thin and hanging like strands from her head, and the bags under her eyes gave her the look of a hollow ghost.

"Why don't we go into the dining hall?" said Mrs. Weasley hastily, leading the way.

The uncomfortable silence was broken by Holly, who cried, "Thank Merlin we'll eat now!"

As everyone sent nasty glares her way, Scorpius muttered to Rose, "Hugo's still with her—sorry, I mean with that?"

Giggling, Rose said, "Yeah. The last week has been unbearable."

"Huh," he said. "I would've thought that after spending every single second with her for that long, he would've tuned in to the fact that she's, I dunno, a psycho."

Victoire, who was walking before them, laughed openly. "Good one," she said, smiling appreciatively. "So far, he's been an excellent judge of character. Good pick, Rose." She winked at her cousin, causing Rose to blush and apologize to Scorpius profusely.

"It's okay, it's okay," he chuckled. "You look beautiful, by the way." He settled into the seat next to Rose, with his mother and father clinging to him.

Mrs. Malfoy stood still behind her son, a blank expression on her face.

Taking pity on her, Hermione hurried over to the other side of the table and gently maneuvered the very confused Mrs. Malfoy towards a seat. "Here you go, Mrs. Malfoy. You can sit here."

"I'll do that, thank you very much," said Draco, seizing his mother's elbow almost harshly.

"I was only trying to help," said Hermione crossly, but she moved away nevertheless.

Rose cringed, staring fixedly at her plate. Inconspicuously, Scorpius squeezed her hand under the table.

"Oi!" said Ron loudly. "Are you being rude to my wife?"

"Ron," Hermione chastised, but she didn't look displeased.

"I was helping _my_ mother into her seat," said Draco, with his jaw set.

"Oh, I'm sure," said Ron, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Are you calling me a liar, Weasley?" he snapped.

"Oh Merlin," muttered Scorpius.

The rest of the Potter-Weasley family seemed to share his sentiments. Albus, however, looked desperately hopeful, a fake smile plastered across his blank expression, his mind clearly running through options of what to say next to assuage the tension. Victoire, on the other hand, looked merely amused.

"Oh of course not," said Ron, glaring. "You're anything but a liar, Malfoy."

"Dad," Rose mumbled.

"Good," said Draco nastily. "I'm glad you say so."

"Father," hissed Scorpius.

"Okay, I don't know what's going on here," said Holly waspishly, "but can we please do it over dinner? I'll eat anything, I'm so hungry."

"Here you go, dear," said Mrs. Weasley shortly, waving her wand and summoning dinner to their plates.

"It looks lovely, Her-Hermione," said Astoria nervously, nudging the turkey with her fork.

For a moment, Hermione's rigid expression softened. "Thank you, Astoria. I hope you like turkey?"

"Very much," she smiled. "I used to really enjoy Draco's mother's turkey."

"Well, I hope this one compares," she replied, digging in.

"We'll see about that," scoffed Draco.

"Let's not do this," said Harry quickly, cutting off Ron's spluttered retort. He glared pointedly at Draco, and continued, "It's Christmas. Let's just enjoy Christmas."

"Yeah," said Albus enthusiastically, smiling up at his father. "We can enjoy Christmas together!"

The cousins all glanced at Albus in exasperation; it seemed he would seize any chance at hoping the evening would go well.

"Yes, we can," said Astoria, smiling directly at Albus. She nudged her husband. "Can't we?"

Draco gritted his teeth and gave a noncommittal jerk of his head before digging his fork rather violently into the turkey.

"Best we can hope for, I think," whispered Mr. Weasley, two seats down from Rose.

"So, Scorpius," said Hermione tentatively. It was clear that she was trying to mend the damage she'd done at King's Cross. "How has your holiday been?"

"It's been great, thank you," he replied politely. "The turkey is really good, Mrs. Weasley."

"Oh? Thank you," she said. "I'm glad you like it."

"Mother's was—" began Draco, before Astoria nudged him sharply in the ribs "—er, comparable."

"Thank you," said Hermione in clipped tones.

"Who made this?" said Mrs. Malfoy vaguely, poking at her food.

"She did, Mother," said Draco, pointing at Hermione. Nearly everyone, particularly Harry, Ron, and Hermione, looked up in shock at the drastic change in Draco's voice. The harsh, biting tone had morphed into a gentle, loving one full of concern and anguish for the old woman next to him. Scorpius watched his grandmother warily. He knew that she was sicker than she let on with him; she'd always been able to communicate with him easily. However, in public, she could barely string two sentences together, neither in her mind or aloud.

Hermione cleared her throat. "Yes, I did," she said, smiling encouragingly.

For a moment, Mrs. Malfoy stared at Hermione as though memorizing her features. Finally, she said softly, "Could you teach me, dear? I've never made…turkey…"

Draco's harsh intake of breath wasn't missed by anybody. Hermione's face was stricken.

"She'll teach you, Mother," said Astoria loudly, with an obviously fake smile, similar to the one nurses at nursing homes wear when dealing with a particularly tantrum-prone patient. She turned to Hermione and said, without bothering to lower her voice, "Don't worry about it. She'll forget about it in the next few minutes."

And sure enough, Narcissa Malfoy's face glazed over once again. Meanwhile, Draco was staring fixedly at his food, shame etched clearly in the worry lines of his face.

"Er…so, Astoria," said Hermione, in a higher pitched voice than normal. "What, er, what do you do?"

"Oh, I don't work," she replied. "I stay at the manor and take care of Narcissa."

"Wouldn't you have elves for that sort of thing?" said Audrey, surprising everyone. Looking around at all the surprised faces, she shrugged. "What? I had a sick granddad, and we had two elves just to take care of her."

"You're a pureblood?" said Draco with interest.

"Yes, I am," said Audrey. "What gave it away?"

"Only purebloods have more than one house elf."

"Ah, yes, that is true," she said, nodding.

"Why do you want to know?" said Percy coolly.

"Just curious," said Draco.

They fell into an awkward silence. In great trepidation, Rose watched as her parents tried to communicate with each other telepathically. Hermione was nudging and raising her eyebrows at Ron, making jerks of her head towards the Malfoy couple. _Talk!_ she mouthed. He tried to give her a look of protest, but she shook her head, and with a soft sigh, Ron turned to them.

"Er…so you're still living at the manor?" said Ron, sounding strained.

At this, Draco went white. "We-we are, yes."

Immediately, Ron regretted asking this question, of all questions. They were all unmistakably remembering that terrible night at Malfoy Manor.

"So-so how's work, Draco?" said Hermione, hastily changing the subject.

"Quite good, actually," he replied tersely. "You?"

"Oh, it's fine," she said airily.

"Yeah," said Harry randomly. "Er…Ministry work. It's always, er, fine."

"Oh God," said Rose under her breath.

On the other side of the table, George and his family were trying their hardest not to cry from their stifled laughter. Percy was trying to dissuade the tension by talking loudly to Mr. Weasley about a new policy at Hogwarts about magic safety. The only person who wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to the awkward situation that was unfolding reluctantly before them was Molly, who had barely touched her food and was now sitting with her eyes shut, clutching her stomach.

Apparently, Harry had realized just how stupid he had sounded, so he turned to Ginny, a look of clear panic on his face. "So, how's the Quidditch season, Ginny?"

She looked at him as though he were a pellet of grindylow vomit. "I cannot believe you," she said in a low voice.

"Oh yes, you play Quidditch," said Astoria, jumping on the subject immediately. "How is that?"

"It's wonderful," said Ginny, smiling. "I absolutely love it. There are all sorts of perks, like the travel and meeting great new people. I swear, Quidditch players do better foreign relations than the Ministry!"

She and Astoria laughed, but Draco, Ron, Harry, and Hermione were all silent.

"Teddy," whispered Victoire, loudly enough so that the entire room could hear. She nudged her fiancé vigorously in the ribs.

"Ow, what is it?" he whispered back, rubbing his side.

"Look over there," she hissed, pointing in the corner.

Teddy followed her gaze. "What? There's nothing there," he said, confused.

"You don't see it?" she said, befuddled.

"No, Vic, what's going on?"

"Over there, in the corner," she repeated.

"What is it?"

"It's an elephant," she whispered.

The cousins stared in complete and utter confusion, wondering (not for the first time) if Victoire had completely lost her sanity.

"Victoire," said Teddy slowly. "What are you talking about?"

"It's an elephant!" she insisted. "You know, like, an elephant in the room?"

They all groaned loudly as Victoire collapsed in a fit of giggles, except for Scorpius, who actually laughed out loud.

Rose looked at him incredulously. "You actually thought that was funny?"

Still chortling, he shrugged. "It was a little funny."

"Hey!" cried Victoire, grinning widely. "You're the only person in, like, forever who actually thought I was funny! Again, Rose, I totally approve!"

Mrs. Malfoy let out a breathy laugh.

Alarmed, Draco turned to her, his hand flying to her arm at once. "Mother?" he said concernedly.

She smiled up at her son, and then said, "I thought that was funny, too."

For a brief second, a shocked silence gripped the room.

"Did you?" said Victoire interestedly.

Mrs. Malfoy nodded.

"I'm glad," she replied, all traces of amusement gone, replaced with kindness and joy. "There's plenty more where that came from."

The ghost of a smile rested on Mrs. Malfoy's face for a moment, before disappearing and leaving her blank once more.

* * *

When dinner came to a close, it was only with forced politeness that Hermione asked the Malfoys to stay for hot chocolate, and it was with intense relief that she accepted their refusal. After closing the door behind them, she collapsed into an armchair that Ron hastily conjured for her.

"So who counted how many words were exchanged?" Fred laughed.

"Less than ten, I'm sure," said Roxanne, high-fiving him.

Hermione merely whimpered from her armchair.

"So?" said Rose anxiously. "What did you think of Scorpius?"

"He's great!" Victoire piped up from the corner.

"He does seem like a nice kid," said Teddy reasonably.

"Nice kids don't always end up being nice," said Ron warily.

"Come on, Ron," said Bill. "You know he was cool."

Ron grunted.

"He was okay," said Hermione in a small voice. "I-I liked him, Rose."

In a wave of excitement, Rose let out a deafening screech as she hurled herself at her mother. "Oh, thank you thank you thank you!"

"Yes, yes," mumbled Hermione, patting Rose's back.

Ron was watching the scene with a crestfallen expression on his face. When Rose pulled away, he looked at Hermione, opening and closing his mouth several times. Finally, he said, "You-you like him, then?

With a shrug, Hermione nodded. She was still slightly pale.

"He was much better than the kind of kid Malfoy was when he was sixteen," reasoned Harry. "But then again, that's not saying much."

"He's better than the kid _you_ were when you were sixteen, Ron," Ginny smirked, earning an appreciative grin from Harry and Hermione.

"Oh, shut up," Ron grumbled. At last, he gave a heavy sigh, attempted a weary smile, and said, "Yeah, yeah, Rosie. I guess I can't complain."

If Rose had screamed before, it was nothing to what she did now. Ron was nearly knocked off his feet as she threw her arms around him.

"Oi!" he cried, but he was smiling.

"Thanks, Daddy," she said.

"But this doesn't mean I trust the boy, you hear?" he said, adopting a stern tone again.

Rose rolled her eyes, too ecstatically happy to care. In this moment, everything was going her way.

* * *

**A/N:** I hope you liked that! There wasn't much interaction between Ron and Hermione and Scorpius, but I wanted to make this chapter more about the family interaction as a whole. If you're interested, I will be continuing the story, but if you'd rather not, then this is a fine ending.

Please leave your reviews! I worked pretty hard on this chapter, so I'd like plenty of thoughts:)

~Maya


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